Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac
by Koontzykinz
Summary: Zodiac (my OC) lends a helping hand in defeating Unicron. Also continues to help all the way until the season 3 finale of TFP: BH. :) Conjuring and all other aspects belong to KingsIsle TFP and TFP: BH belongs to Hasbro Zodiac belongs to me. No flames please and I would appreciate rates and reviews- this is my first ever fanfic.
1. Chapter 1: Arrival

**Tranformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

_I can't sleep._

_ Now I know everyone has that problem at some point in their lives, but for me it's continuous and is a heck of a nuisance sometimes. Of course being a Conjurer this is totally normal, but since my persona is so powerful, she sometimes sucks in more dream energy than she or I can handle- thus, the curse of insomnia. But tonight is different. It's not because of my powers, it's something else._

_ I'm worried. Scared? Yes. Frantic? Maybe. Problem is the other members of my team – The Spiral Knights- won't be able to help me. This…this is personal._

_ I guess I should start at the beginning._

_ I wasn't always like this. I used to be normal. Well, as normal as you can get with 9-foot wings attached to a 5-foot tall teen. But being an Empyrean, wings are commonplace. All of our cities float in the sky and flight is the main mode of transportation. However, I'm likely the smallest Empyrean you'll ever meet, the runt of the littler if you will. All my friends are around 5-foot 10 or even 6 feet in height. I never truly fit in and was teased about my height and above average intellect._

_ I'm wandering off topic however. The reason I'm nervous? I met a really nice friend a while back and no matter how many times I try to contact him via telepathy, he won't answer. So either he knows how to block telepathy or….no he can't be dead. I'm a Herald so that means I would have felt it. I didn't teach him how to block my telepathy, so something else must be blocking me. But what? I Think I need to do some investigating, but I'll need to tell the other Knights, just so they don't flip and send out search parties. So no stargazing tonight._

I wandered back into headquarters and was given a smile of sympathy from my sister Morrigan, who was on night watch. She doesn't suffer insomnia as I do; she is simply a creature of the night. I continued into the main meeting room where our leader, Horus, usually stayed. He would often foreswear his own beauty sleep to make sure everyone was safe and secure. He turned upon hearing my entrance.

"You seem troubled. What's bothering you?" the Sorcerer asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. "Would you mind my being gone for a few months? I'm worried about a friend I met a while ago."

"You mean this 'Orion Pax' character?"

I sighed in defeat. "Yeah. Please can I check on him? Aello sent a few scouts to Earth a while back and they mentioned 'phantom cars'. I just want to make sure he's okay, and why Cybertronians are even on Earth to begin with."

"That does seem rather peculiar. Very well Zodiac, you have my permission and if you require aid, feel free to contact us for support." Horus agreed.

"Thank you. I'll use the Earth Stone to travel there; I just hope Titan fixed it so that it won't drain me of mana and knock me out. Hopefully I'll wind up close to one of these 'phantom cars' and they can tell me what's going on." I shook his hand warmly in gratitude and he waved me out.

Finding my way back outside, I made my way to the courtyard, where a circle of glowing stones sat. The Earth Stone glimmered a soft jade green, pulsing slightly as I approached it. I placed my hand on it and the world flashed white before abruptly slamming me into darkness.

oooooOooooooOoooooOooooo

I opened my eyes rather groggily and heard voices murmuring in the background. I was lying down in a large room on what seemed to be a large hospital bed. A large white and amber face peered down at me in concern. I guessed he was Cybertronian, considering that fact he was made of metal. Sadly for him, Aello decided to go on the defensive, seizing control of my body and causing it to leap off the bed and assume a combat stance. Why she wasn't trusting this guy was beyond me as he hadn't done anything to aggravate her.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Aello hissed through my mouth, making the amber and white Cybertronian look at me in shock. He clearly wasn't expecting me to act as I was. I wrenched control back from my persona and stood back up. With shock I realized I was no longer 5 feet tall, rather I was 11-feet tall and made of metal. Aello must've sensed to presence of Cybertronians nearby and activated my robot form that I had gained during my time on Cybertron. I calmed on seeing my wings were still there, thought I was still slightly uneasy. More robots had come in to gawk and stare- a black and yellow one, a large green bulky one, and a slender blue and pink one. To my surprise three young humans stood by their pedes, completely at ease around the metal titans. Heavy footfalls roused me from my musings and an all too familiar form rounded the corner. A large, even by Cybertronian standards, robot with a red and blue paintjob and gentle cerulean optics walked into whatever room I was in at present. He stopped mid-step on seeing me, staring as though he'd seen a ghost. As soon as I heard him talk, I _knew._

"Are you alright, stranger?" He asked.

That voice, there was no way…but it sounded just like him! Why did he look so _different_?

_"Pax?!"_ I gasped. As soon as the word slipped out, everyone started as though they'd been shot, namely the amber and white robot.

Orion cocked him helm to the side, puzzled but plainly curious. "Have we met?"

I couldn't believe this. He actually didn't remember me? Why? "You…you don't remember me?" I whispered. My expression must have been absolutely heart, er, spark-breaking because he laid a hand on my shoulder.

"I admit you seem very familiar to me, though I cannot recall your name. Would you mind refreshing my memory, little one?" He murmured.

I held back screaming and kept my voice level so as not to frighten the humans. "My name…is Zodiac."

Orion's face went temporarily blank as he scanned his internal memory banks. I hoped, _prayed_, he would remember me. Just as I was ready to give up, his optics lit up in recognition.

"Zee? Is that really you? Forgive me for saying so, but your arrival just now is nothing short of a miracle. We are in desperate need of your aid." Orion looked half-desperate as he requested my help.

The air around me suddenly reeked of evil and malice; ancient and incredibly powerful. Involuntarily, I shivered and tried to put a brave face to it. "I think introductions are in order first, big guy. _Then_ tell me what's wrong. And I want an explanation as to why you are here and why everyone here looked at me like I was crazy when I said your name."

Orion smirked at me, though not unkindly. "I believe that is a fair enough trade. As for introductions; the one who was monitoring you is Ratchet, my Chief Medical Officer. The ones who brought you here were Bumblebee, my Scout, and his human charge Rafael. Arcee is my Second-in-Command and is partnered with Jack. Bulkhead is my Demolitions Expert and is Miko's guardian. There is one other Autobot, but he is currently off world searching for Autobot refugees."

I was confused as to this last statement. "Refugees? As in people fleeing a war zone?"

His expression hardened marginally as he clarified. "Yes. Not long after you returned home, war broke out on Cybertron. It is now in deep stasis as it attempts to remedy the damage done, leaving it devoid of life. Do you remember the gladiator Megatronus?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, you mean the mech who got his sorry behind handed to him by me in a training fight since he didn't think I was capable of holding my own against him? Poor deluded fool."

"It was partially his doing that war broke out in the first place. He was furious that I was appointed a Prime instead of him, and he began to wage war on all who opposed him through his army of followers, which he called Decepticons. I attempted to mend our friendship, but to no avail."

My eyes widened. "You're a Prime?! Does that mean…" He cut me off as he continued to explain. But to my surprise, he stopped the story.

"I will now explain why I need your assistance. Do you remember the story of Primus and Unicron?"

I scowled as he said the last name. "Dude, I was technically part of that. How else do you think the Thirteen's signature weapons and items were enchanted? The Knights enchanted them."

The Prime smiled at that. "Of course, I forgot that time doesn't work the same way here as it does in the Spiral. To continue, large amounts of Dark Energon have begun erupting from volcanoes."

"What? Dark Energon is supposed to be his blood right? Why is it bursting out of the ground?" I shouted. Again, the sense of evil and malice returned, stronger this time. Annoyingly, he was interrupted as a middle-aged African American man stormed into the room. I noticed an, as before unseen, adult up on the catwalks. She looked strikingly similar to Jack, so I judged this was most likely his mother.

"What have you learned, Prime? And you better not blow smoke up my-"the man faltered on seeing the woman. "Nurse Darby. What a pleasant surprise." He smiled nervously. Prime must've seen I was looking at them quizzically.

"Special Agent Fowler, Nurse Darby- we have a new addition to the team, though I cannot say for certain how long she will be staying with us. This is Spiral Knight Zodiac." He formally introduced me.

My shyness kicked in under the Agent's piercing look, but it vanished utterly on seeing the Nurse's no-need-to-be-afraid look. Ratchet must've senses the awkwardness of the moment and spoke up.

"We have learned this: as with the so called 'magma' from the volcano, the global earthquakes originated far below the Earth's crust, from the very center of the Earth's core in fact."

I giggled mentally at Fowler's dumbfounded stare. "Quakes don't start there…." He protested, "Do they?"

"Tiny tremors, rising and falling, in a consistent pattern. Almost like…." Ratchet's normally stern countenance changed into one of pure terror. "By the All-spark….If I convert these data points into _audio_ files…"

The medic's attitude was actually starting to creep me out. "What? What is it?" I asked.

"Listen." Was the only reply he gave me.

_Tha-dum. Tha-dum. Tha-dum._ The staccato beat reverberated around the walls of the base. Everyone's eyes (and optics) widened in fear and disbelief, myself included.

"A Cybertronian heartbeat? The human called Jack gasped.

"How is that possible? A heart pumps blood, there's nothing inside the Earth to pump except…" Nurse Darby argued. Rafael was the one to connect two and two together.

"The blood of Unicron!" the poor kid's eyes widened in horror.

"Okay, hold on. You mean there's something living down there? Inside our planet?" Miko asked.

"I fear that the Earth's core is not comprised of magma, as your science has led us to believe, but rather of Dark Energon." The Prime rumbled.

"That doesn't make sense. I've seen every human civilization since the very first ones and nothing like this has ever happened. Dark Energon crystals weren't even found!" I protested.

They continued on debating without me. "And if we're hearing a spark, then Unicron is the rising darkness the prophesy foretold." said Ratchet.

"Okay, so what happens when Unicron wakes up from his billion year nap?" asked Jack.

"Yeah does he stretch and KA -POW! Earth poofs to dust?" Miko piped in.

Prime didn't answer her; he simply looked at the floor with his optics flicking around. I could almost hear his mind working.

"You don't know do you?" Nurse Darby said.

"My guess is that Unicron has transcended physical being as we know it. We need to stop him before he fully awakens. The fate of your world depends on it." He stated.

I gave a snort of derision. "Prime, I'm a Herald. I'm one of the few Knights who can truly hurt him, even in this state of existence. You know that better than anyone."

"In that case, you will accompany me in searching for signs of his emergence."

"You got it, big guy." I winked.


	2. Chapter 2: Heart of Darkness

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 2

I gotta say, this "Groundbridge" the Autobots employ is one hell of an invention. With a little tinkering by Titan, it might even be better than the teleport stones we currently use.

Prime and I came out of the 'bridge in a large canyon system, though where it was I had no idea. Being a creature of the sky, canyons and confined spaces always made me jittery, but it was a large canyon, so that made dealing with it a little easier.

"So what exactly are we looking for here?" I asked as I jogged alongside him.

"Any further evidence of Unicron's emergence so far. At present, all my scanners are picking up is that the surrounding terrain is rich in ore." He responded.

Ratchet had thoughtfully added me to the Autobot comm. frequency before we left and shouted a warning to both of us.

[Optimus, Zodiac, I've detected a swell in Unicron's spark activity. Be on your guard.] He cautioned.

[We'll be careful Doctor, don't worry.] I answered. Crumbling rock nearby drew our attention, and I jumped back as a face emerged from the canyon wall.

"Do you know who I am, followers of Primus?" it hissed.

"The _Cháos férnei_, Unicron." I snarled.

"Good." Unicron said, before completely detaching from the wall. "Now know me as your destroyer!" he roared. He raised one arm up, which looked like a long spiked club, and brought it down on top of Optimus. The Prime reacted in a flash, deflecting the blow. To my confusion however, he didn't take the offensive, rather he appeared to be avoiding the fight. Even more to my astonishment, Optimus retracted his weapons and actually _appealed_ to Unicorn, asking him not to harm the planet that had formed around him or its inhabitants.

The chaos-bringer didn't react kindly to this request and opened fire on Optimus, sending him crashing to the ground from the shot. He was out of the fight temporarily.

I'd had it. I let out a war cry and charged Unicron, dodging his attacks with ease. I'd learned that the larger the foe, the slower they are, and the chaos-bringer was no exception to this rule. Finally getting within sword-length of him, I jabbed the blade into his chest, causing him to crumble to dust.

"Okay, that was _way_ too easy. It's never that easy." I muttered. Optimus had recovered from the blast and stood up. Right on cue, dozens more stone Unicrons emerged from the surrounding terrain and piled us before we had to time to react. Whichever ones we'd managed to destroy were simply replaced by another, so this was a fight not even we could win on our own. We needed help.

[Ratchet we need support! Optimus and I are getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers!] I shrieked into the comm. link.

[I'm 'bridging the team to your location now. As soon as you get the opportunity, return to base at once.] The CMO replied.

The Groundbridge vortex opened higher up on the canyon and each member of "Team Prime" as Fowler had designated them roared out of the portal, blasting their way towards us. As our captors crumbled to dust, I took the offensive as the Prime reunited with his team, conjuring a massive earthquake to disrupt our attackers long enough to get a head start. Everyone drove or sprinted to the top of the canyon where there would be more room to manoeuver. More rock avatars formed around us, getting successively larger each time, but they were quickly dispatched by Team Prime and me.

To our horror however, a gargantuan stone Unicron rose out of the ground, towering over all of us. There was no way to bring that thing down, it was just too big. Each Autobot sprinted around its foot, most likely hoping to trip it, but the blasts did virtually nothing to it and the monolith continued to stomp towards the Prime. The monster brought down its club hand, tossing massive boulders on top of Optimus, burying him under the rubble.

"NO!" Arcee screamed.

Out of nowhere, a barrage of laser fire struck Unicron, blasting his face to pieces and sending the avatar crashing to the ground. I looked up and saw a strange purple and grey jet circle the remains before transforming and landing near the rubble where Optimus was buried and pulling him out. I recognized the stranger at once: Megatronus, now called Megatron. This was the psycho who was responsible for killing Cybertron and who hated Optimus with a fiery passion. So why would he go out of his way to save his arch-enemy?

"It is rather ironic, considering our last encounter." The warlord said. "If memory serves, you were desperately trying to extinguish my spark."

_Huh? When was this?_ I wondered.

"That option remains very much in play." The Prime warned.

"I would expect nothing less. However, I have a proposal: Join me in defeating our shared enemy- Unicron.

[Absurd! Unicron is evil incarnate. If Megatron were to take any side, _why_ would it be ours?!] Ratchet said.

"Because Megatron's pride would never allow anyone other than himself to rule this planet." Optimus replied.

The warlord laughed. "You know me all too well Optimus!"

"You lead a freakin' army, why come to the 'Bots for help, creepy?" I sneered. Megatron finally seemed to notice me.

"Ah, 'Zodiac' is it?, because this particular endeavor requires something beyond the realm of my command-the power of a Prime. And since you are a Knight, this task might go more smoothly than I imagined."

"Heh, then I guess we don't need you." Bulkhead scoffed.

"On the contrary, Optimus and Zodiac may be the only one who can _defeat_ Unicron, but I remain the only one who can _guide_ you to him." Megtron corrected. "Unicron's lifeblood runs through me, I can hear his thoughts, anticipate his movements." The Decepticon overlord turned to the Prime. "Optimus, our past alliances, Autobot, Decepticon, no longer matter; not while Unicron lives."

"A truce between Autobot and Decepticon? How long do expect that will last?" I scowled.

"Only as long as is mutually beneficial." said Megatron.

"And? When our proposed 'shared mission' is complete?" The Prime asked.

"I will conquer this earth…my way." The warlord growled.

_Brutal honesty from a Decepticon?_ I wondered.

"Do you think you've witnessed the full power of Unicron? Those foot soldiers were nothing more than a taste. Unicron has yet to fully awaken." Megatron warned. "With each massing moment the bringer of chaos evolves, mutating Earth from the inside out. What we have witnessed until now is but a prelude of the utter devastation is rising will bring upon this planet."

"Like your quest for power destroyed Cybertron?" Arcee shouted. I had to agree with her.

"Make no mistake! This time there WILL be a planet left for me to rule!" The warlord hissed.

I folded my arms across my chest. "Even IF we agree, Unicron is all the way down at the center of the Earth! How are we supposed to get there, drive?!"

"There is only one way." Optimus stated.

[ABSOLUTLEY NOT! Bridging into space or onto moving trains is difficult enough, but plotting a blind jump _inside_ of a sentient being?!] I rubbed my head in annoyance. Seriously, why shout? [Besides, direct exposure to that much Dark Energon will _debilitate_ you! You haven't built up an immunity like Megatron has!]

"Yet another reason for soliciting my guidance." Megatron said smugly. The comm. link must've been loud enough for him to hear, but considering Ratchet had just shouted, that didn't really surprise me.

"You can provide Unicron's exact coordinates?" The Prime asked.

"If you transport us to this planet's core, I can lead you directly into Unicron's spark, the very heart of his darkness." Megatron confirmed.


	3. Chapter 3: The Descent

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 3

"Optimus, even _if_ we survive the jump, how are we supposed to defeat Unicron?" Arcee pointed out.

I would have told her, but I figured it best to have her leader tell her himself.

"With the Matrix of Leadership." The Prime informed her.

I could hear an argument go on across the comm. link, but I toned it out as I already knew the information.

"It was the combined power of the Primes that defeated Unicron so long ago-the very reason he now seeks to destroy _you_, as well as the Knight. Even one Knight is a viable threat to him." Megatron said.

"So it would follow that if the energy contained in the Matrix is fired into Unicron's spark, it would return him to stasis." Optimus finished. "And Zodiac is not just a Knight; she is also a Herald, one of the few beings capable of harming him in any form, physical or otherwise."

Once again an argument broke out back in the base, but it was over why Unicron had to stay in the core. Again, I toned it out. Stones started to move on their own, meaning another manifestation was forming. Everyone backed up as the giant avatar that was recently defeated stood up once more.

"Ratchet, send a groundbridge!" The Prime requested. The swirling green vortex opened a few feet behind us, but before anyone entered, Arcee decided to speak up.

"Wait, we're opening a direct path into our base with Megatron standing right there?!" She shouted over the noise.

"And seriously, he's gonna risk his own spark to save us?" Bulkhead ridiculed.

The Decepticon warlord laughed haughtily at this. "Hardly my nature!" He turned to Optimus. "Consider my offer, I shall keep it busy."

I decided to intervene. "Nuh-uh, there is no way you can keep this thing occupied for long, not without help. I'm helping whether you want it or not." I declared.

Megatron rolled his optics at me. "No. If you remain out in the open, Unicron will target you instead of me. Much as I hate to admit it, we can't afford to lose you. Return with them." He transformed and took off. Prime grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me into the portal without further ado.

The entire base was in uproar upon my entry. Ratchet was positively seething at the notion of letting Megatron inside the silo.

"I know that desperate times call for desperate measures, but bringing Megatron _here?! _"

"How can you even think about letting that monster near these children after what he did to Raf?" Nurse Darby shouted angrily.

_Wait, what did he do to Raf?_ I thought.

"He will be closely monitored, and only allowed to linger long enough to send us on our journey. Not one moment more." Optimus said emphatically.

"What's there to stop the 'Cons from callin' in an airstrike if he knows where ya live? Fowler argued.

"By groundbridging Megatron here, he will be unable to get a fix on our location." The Prime answered.

"Optimus, what's gonna happen to you when all your Matrix energy is released?" Jack asked.

"The power of the Matrix has not been utilized in such a manner before." He replied vaguely.

"So in short, you have no clue." I butted in. He didn't answer me.

"Ratchet, activate the groundbridge."

The CMO nodded mutely and pulled the lever.

The Prime turned on his comm. link. "Megatron, we are sending transport."

[You can always be relied upon to listen to reason Optimus.] The warlord responded over the main console.

I saw Ratchet herd the humans around the corner of the medbay. Miko didn't seem at all pleased with this and tried to argue, but the medic remained steadfast.

The Decepticon leader thudded into the main room, pausing and glancing around. "So, this is where the magic happens? _Quaint._" I resisted Aello's urging to kick him right then and there. That would only make the already high tensions blow through the roof. Much to my horror, I saw Raf run out from cover, followed by each human, only to be led back by Nurse Darby. Miko however, decided to get a word in.

You double cross anyone, MINE is the face you'll never forget. NEVER!" Fowler actually had to restrain her to keep the girl from attacking Megatron. I had to admit, the girl had guts to go threatening an alien robot capable of crushing her underfoot. Optimus led Megatron over to Ratchet so the CMO could input the destination coordinates. I remained where I was, mainly to keep an optic on him. Curiously, the Prime had followed Jack rather than stay in the main room. I could hear the two talking, but wasn't able to decipher what was said. He walked back in, his faceplates betraying no emotion, and the groundbridge hummed to life.

It was now or never; do or die. I stalked forward to Megatron. "You first." I said.

He gave a mocking bow. "As you wish, Herald." And promptly turned on his heels and stomped in, the rest of Team Prime following close behind.

Emerging, I nearly fell forward from the feeling of malice and hate that swamped me. Bumblebee caught me and steadied me, beeping worriedly. I waved it aside. "It's alright, kid. I'm fine."

"So…how long until Unicron knows we're here?" Arcee asked.

"Make no mistake. He already does." The warlord replied grimly, before continuing on.


	4. Chapter 4: Battle at the Earth's Core

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 4

We all continued forward for some time in silence, and in my case, mild trepidation. Megatron suddenly let out a hiss of pain and held his helm, making me lean forward and send out a weak healing pulse to him. All Knights are required to learn life magic for situations such as this, but while life magic is mainly used for combat healing, it can also be used to cleanse harmful effects, if only temporarily. He gave me a mute nod of thanks before walking on. Arcee had fallen back to stick with the others, and I could hear her muttering something to her leader; something involving the word trap. I tensed when I heard a strange noise from somewhere up above us, but when I looked, there was nothing there.

I knew then-we were being followed and observed, though why said stalkers hadn't attacked yet was curious. Possibly they were waiting for the opportune moment to strike, most likely in a larger area.

Everyone stopped when we emerged into a larger cavern area, making the valley Optimus and I had been in earlier look pitifully small. _At least I'll have room to fly if we get ambushed._ I thought. Bulkhead started swaying due to the Dark Energon affecting him, so we all continued on at a slower pace.

The warlord turned around in the middle of the catwalk-like structure we were on. "He's preparing to expel us."

I drew my sword and twirled it in response. "I'd like to see him try." The strange noises returned, and a massive swarm of…_things_ swooped down on us, opening fire and swishing tentacle-like appendages, trying to make us lose our footing. Just how many there were was anyone's guess, but I gauged it at well over 1,000, and they just kept coming.

"Try and make your way to his spark chamber, I'll keep 'em busy and buy you boys some time!" I said, right before purposefully tipping myself off the catwalk and spreading my wings. I hovered there for a moment as all the tentacle bots turned in my direction.

"You want me?! _Come and get me!"_ I taunted, and dove down in a sharp nose-dive. Every single tentacle bot followed me, and thus ensued a massive game of cat and mouse. I'd hide behind corners as the swarm passed and pick off a few before flying off again, or fly right at one of the catwalks before veering off, causing dozens of them to crash and explode on impact. Clearly, they weren't very bright, since I would use these tactics over and over again and they never seemed to catch on to it.

I destroyed the last of them and made my way back to the Autobots, following their life energies like a trail of bread crumbs. I caught sight of Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee standing their ground outside a closed door. Arcee simply shook her head, telling me there was no way in until Unicron's systems shut back down.

Seeing as all of the tentacle bots had been dealt with (minus a few stragglers who had been wise enough not to follow me and get slaughtered), the four of us stood in suspenseful silence and waited.

Thankfully, we only had to wait a few minutes before the sealed door opened. I rushed in first and saw Optimus standing behind Megatron. A groundbridge opened and- almost before I had time to register what I was doing-I rushed in faster than the eye could blink, and ended up in a dark, dreary looking hall way. I knew where I was.

_The Nemesis._ I was on the Decepticon warship. I heard a door slide open a few meters away and sprinted for it, slipping in behind a few purple drones. I'd heard Bulkhead say they were called Vehicons, well the ones that could fly were, and the non-flyers were called Eradicons. I squeezed under what appeared to be an exam table, praying no one would spot me.

Hiding under an exam table gets real boring, real fast. I actually wished someone would come in so I could at least watch them and have something to do.

_Speak of the devil._ I saw two mechs walk in. One was small and bright red, the other was blue and silver with an orange face and an eye patch. A single Eradicon followed them in and placed a bundle of equipment on a table on the far side of the room. None of the three mechs had noticed me yet, but that would only last so long. The room was pretty sparse in terms of hiding places, so it was only a matter of time before they saw me. The Eradicon waiting diligently in the corner, awaiting further instruction from the other two while they wandered around the room, checking systems and running diagnostics on the new equipment. I held my breath as the red one walked over to the table I was hiding under and tinkered with a few tools. Just as I thought I was in the clear….

"Hello there." The red mech peeped his helm down at stared at me. Instinctively, I drew my sword and held it between his optics, causing him to go cross-eyed as he focused on it. The Eradicon and the blue and silver mech also crouched down to look.

"If you even _attempt_ to raise the alarm, I will kill you without hesitation, mechs. Got it?" I snarled as I squirmed out of my hiding place. They all nodded silently and raised their arms in surrender. "What are your names, 'Cons?"

The red one regained some courage first. "K-Knockout." He stammered.

"Breakdown." The blue and silver one said. I looked over at the Eradicon, who simply shrugged.

"I don't have an official designation, but everyone onboard nick-named me Simon."

I continued glaring at them. "I know Optimus is on this crate; I can sense the energy of the Matrix, but it's faint. Where is he?" Simon noticed the Conjurer crest on my shoulder and gulped.

"I can take you to him; he's in one of the research labs near the Energon storage vaults. And frankly, I'm glad we didn't attack you. I don't wanna risk pissing off a Conjurer, much less a Herald; not after you helped get rid of Unicron."

I gave a strained smile. "Well at least someone here has some sense of respect. But you two are coming as well, just so you can't double cross me and alert someone."

Knockout, Breakdown and Simon filed out with me close behind.

_Hang on Optimus, I'll keep you safe. _I vowed.


	5. Chapter 5: Among the Enemy

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 5

Simon walked on through the seemingly identical hallways, never doubting his way. Personally, I would have gone bonkers due to all the corridors looking exactly alike, so I was grateful for his guidance. Knockout and Breakdown followed behind him, and I followed behind them so that I could watch all of them and keep them from doing anything idiotic. The Eradicon halted in front of a closed door which opened on his approach, most likely motion sensors detecting him. The door hissed open and revealed a familiar form, but before I could enter, Knockout pulled me aside.

"Fair warning, whatever happened to him down there; something made him forget him being a Prime. He's suffering amnesia and now goes by his former name of Orion Pax. If you call him Optimus Prime, he'll look at you like you're insane. On a side note, Megatron threatened that the first one to call him that will have their voice box torn out." The crimson medic whispered to me. I gave a curt nod of understanding and stepped in awkwardly, wings folded down shyly. Orion turned and gaped open mouthed on seeing me, and then a smile lit up his face. He walked forward, picked me up with ease, and proceeded to crush me in a hug.

"Can't. Feel. Wings. Let go." I gasped. The three Decepticons chortled at the spectacle before Breakdown gave a wave of dismissal and walked off, leaving Knockout and Simon with me and Orion. I was placed back on the floor gently and I rubbed my wings in amused annoyance. _Here_ was the friendly librarian I remembered so well.

"How did you get on the ship? Scratch that, how long have you_ been_ on the ship?" He asked.

"I kinda slipped aboard in a groundbridge and hid in Knockout's medbay till he found me. I'm a friend of the Autobots and I'm here to help you." I muttered.

"Wait, if you are an ally of the Autobots, why has no one raised the alarm yet?"

I gave him an impish grin. "Let's just say I convinced these guys not to. They know not to screw with a Knight. I'll be staying here until…uh….until I have to leave." I lied. Orion being with the Decepticons had bad news written all over it. I had to keep him safe until he could somehow have his memory restored. I had a feeling that whatever he had spoken about to Jack had some relation to getting his mind back. All I had to do was watch and wait.

I watched absent-mindedly as he Orion clicked away on the console, decrypting something or other. Sadly, telling him not to help the Decepticons would probably entice Megatron to kill him, so I stayed quiet and observed. I started humming a tune out of boredom and a group of Vehicons who were passing by stopped to listen. One asked what the lyrics were and I started singing the first stanza.

_Come little children, I'll take thee away_

_ Into a land of enchantment_

_ Come little children, the time's come to play_

_ Here in my garden of shadows._

I let the last note echo around and saw both the Vehicons and Orion stare at me in almost reverential awe. Pax knew how well I could sing, but was still impressed, having not heard this song before. The Vehicons had never heard the voice of a Knight and looked near hypnotized from hearing it. I flushed in spite of myself and looked at the floor, embarrassed at the attention I was receiving. Four voiced begged me to continue, but I shook my head and said I needed to go outside for some space and air, the dreary interior of the _Nemesis_ making me slightly claustrophobic. True, the hallways and corridors were large enough to permit flight, but I always felt safer in the open. I gave a smile to Orion and walked out of the room, asking the drones I came across how I could access the top of the ship. One Vehicon, who said his nick-name was "Steve", was considerate enough to lead me there himself. Clearly the troopers of the ship had more respect for me than their commanding officers did.

Upon reaching the upper deck, I sat down and let my legs dangle over the edge, relishing the cooling sensation of the wind. It was night out and the ship was above cloud level, the stars shining quietly overhead. I made sure no one was around and continued singing the song from earlier.

_Follow sweet children, I'll show thee the way_

_ Through all the pain and the sorrow_

_ Weep not poor children, for life is this way_

_ Murdering beauty and passions._

_ Hush now dear children, it must be this way_

_ To weary of life and deceptions_

_ Rest now dear children, for soon we'll away_

_ Into the calm and the quiet. _

_ Come little children, I'll take thee away_

_ Into a land of enchantment_

_ Come little children, the time's come to play_

_ Here in my garden of shadows._

Suddenly, I could hear two pairs of metal hands clapping a ways behind me. Turning, I saw Steve and Simon standing near a large satellite dish doohickey. Realizing they'd been spotted, they stepped forward and complimented my voice before sitting down on either side of me.

"You two seem way too nice to be Decepticons, you know. Neither of you have even attempted to kill me; instead you try and help me find my way around." I stated. "By the way, how do you even know how to navigate that maze of identical hallways? I'd get lost in seconds."

"Practice. And a lot of us drones only follow Megatron out of fear. But we have a lot of respect for the Knights; what with all your powers and abilities. We're smart enough not to aggravate you, since that's pretty much a death sentence." Simon explained.

High-tech engines roared in my audios and I saw a squad of Vehicon seekers soar into the landing bay. The odd thing was, an F-16 had followed them in, yet none of them had seemed to notice it. Something was off, decidedly. I motioned for Simon and Steve to follow me and keep quiet, which they did without protest. We crept back inside the ship and saw a lanky grey Cybertronian with a red helm spike stab two Vehicons before continuing on down the corridor.

"Who is that? He looks like that F-16 jet we saw." I whispered.

"That's Starscream. Megatron's former SIC, before he turned neutral. Why he's back, I have no idea." Steve murmured to me. Starscream turned the corner and came back carrying a stack of glowing Energon cubes. Apparently hearing someone or something coming, he growled and quickened his pace before, to my horror, slipping into Orion's workstation. I heard the cubes clatter to the floor and I sprinted forward to the door, finding the former SIC pointing two red missiles at my friend's face. I tapped his shoulder, causing the grey Seeker to jump, yelp and hide behind Orion. Raising my sword, I snarled a warning.

"Get away from my friend and I might consider letting you walk away in one piece." Drones charged in from nowhere, holding their guns up and saying for him to surrender. Starcream, seeing he was outnumbered, shrieked and transformed, flying down the corridor back to the launch bay, completely forgetting the cubes he'd stolen.

I walked up to him, but he seemed to be more focused on the direction Starscream and his pursuers had gone. I'd seen that look before.

"Nuh-uh, you are NOT going after them. It's too dangerous. Besides, there's no way you could keep up with them on foot. I'll go, stay here. Steve, Simon, make sure he doesn't do anything dumb for me, will you?" I sprinted and took off, my wings propelling me forward. I noticed several offline Vehicons but kept going, following the trail of destruction and saw that the closed hangar bay door had been ripped apart by a missile. Exiting back to the outside, I saw the grey jet spiral down in a trail of smoke. He'd been hit by the _Nemesis's_ gun turrets. But if what Steve had said about Starscream being neutral were true, he could actually help the 'Bots out with whatever plan they were no doubt concocting, and restore Optimus's memories.

I was going to save Starscream.


	6. Chapter 6: Vector Sigma

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 6

I followed the twisting spiral of smoke down to a forested area, mist and fog hovering above the ground and giving the area a spooky quality. I saw the grey Seeker leaning against a boulder, hugging a large gash on his upper leg. I was no medic, but I knew if he didn't get medical attention soon, he could bleed to death. He looked too weak and exhausted to fight back, but I still approached with caution. The fog helped conceal my form until I was a few meters from him. As soon as he caught sight of me, he yelped and held up his last missile. I smirked and walked forward. Placing one of my tiny hands on his chest, I gently held him in place and glanced at his injury. He seemed rather astonished I was willing to help him.

"How bad is you wound?" I asked "I'm no medic, but I might be able to allay the pain. Even a weak healing spell can do wonders on an injury. Unfortunately, calling the 'Cons is out of the question since they want you dead. Your only option is the Autobots." I placed my hand on the gash and Starscream hissed as it touched sensitive nerve wires. "Oh don't be such an overgrown sparkling." I chided. Jade green light pulsed out of my palm and washed over the gash, making the Seeker sigh in relief as it dulled his pain receptors. That would only last for so long, though. He needed a real doctor.

I stood back up from my crouched position. "Now, you know how to contact Team Prime, don't you?"

The former SIC nodded. "A high frequency signal; their scanners should be capable of detecting it. I'll embed a message as well. Do you want me to mention you are here?"

I shrugged. "Might as well so they don't think this is some kind of trick on your part."

Starscream then sent out the signal and a few minutes later, Bulkhead and Ratchet walked through a groundbridge. I ran up and hugged both of them, releasing the amber and white medic to treat Starscream. He was only a few minutes before he released the grey Seeker, who staggered off and rather shakily transformed, blasting off to who knows where. I turned back to Ratchet who had a smug smile on his lips.

"We now know where the Decepticon spacebridge is. You were on the Nemesis and I trust your word more than Starscream's. Is Optimus alright?"

I grinned. "He's fine, Megatron hasn't hurt him, but he told him to decrypt something called Project: Iacon. No idea why he was so intent on it."

Both Autobots shared a knowing, worried look between each other. I spoke up again. "Why did you need the location of their spacebridge though? Is it related to curing Prime's amnesia?"

"It is. We need to send Jack to Cybertron so he can access Vector Sigma and re-download Optimus's memories back into him." Ratchet confirmed.

So _that's_ what Optimus was talking about with Jack! He'd given the Key to Vector Sigma to him because he must have suspected he'd lose his own memories.

"Well, then. Let's get started shall we?" I rubbed my hands together in anticipation.

The spacebridge was located in a subterranean Energon mine. Stealth was vital for the infiltration because if a distress beacon was sent to the _Nemesis,_ we would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I was sent ahead of the others to scout and take out any drones or troopers I could. I silently prayed that Steve and Simon weren't here; I had no wish to harm them, not after all the help they'd given me. I made my way into the main cavern with the others finally catching up and spotted an enlarged version of the groundbridge tunnel back at the silo, except this was wasn't really a tunnel, more like an indent in the cave wall. Ratchet walked forward and shut down the scrambler he'd brought in order to contact base, then walked forward to the controls. He opened a comm. channel and requested a groundbridge for Jack, who strolled through in full astronaut gear. Arcee and Jack readied themselves and the spacebridge opened, looking exactly like a grounbridge except….

"It's just a little more intense!" Arcee shouted over the roar of the vortex.

"You mean like a billion times louder!" I retorted. "You still cool with me tagging along?"

"Of course! We could definitely use an eye in the sky! Now come on so we can stop yelling!" She transformed into her motorcycle alt. mode and let Jack climb on and zipped into the portal, me following in hot pursuit.

I couldn't register what I was seeing. The Cybertron I had first known was a metallic rainbow of golds, silvers, coppers and bronzes with gleaming spires piercing the sky. Now, it was a dead wasteland of blacks and greys, every building in sight crumbling from centuries of war. Covering my mouth, I choked back a sob and saw Arcee staring at the ground, muttering something to Jack in a low, pained voice. I heard a click on the comm. link; it was Ratchet asking if we were on Cybertron and all of us replied in the affirmative. Swallowing my grief, I took the air and circled the Autobot and her partner as they puzzled out how to use the Key to find Vector Sigma. They finally did and headed off to the east. It took me a while to remember the locations of all the cities, but I finally remembered what city was to the east of where we had arrived.

They were headed for Kaon.

_KAON_ of all places?! Vector Sigma was in Kaon and the Decepticons never realized it was! I let out a slight laugh at this. Seeing I was up a bit high, I lowered myself and soared a few feet above the duo, wariness emerging as the three of us entered the city. Like every other place on the planet, it was desolate and abandoned, the walls cracking apart from years of neglect and enemy attack. Arcee shifted out of her alt. mode and looked around, scowling at a large statue of Megatron. All of us staggered as the ground shook and strange glowing symbols lit up around our feet and a large tunnel passage erupted from the ground. Jack seemed completely confused and I couldn't blame him.

"Vector Sigma's…down here?" He asked his partner.

"Kaon didn't always belong to the Decepticons; Megatron _took it_ as their capital, apparently without ever realizing what lay beneath their feet." She explained with a smirk.

A strange gurgling-hissing noise caught our attention. I nearly screamed as a giant bug-bot, easily dwarfing myself and Arcee, leapt down from its vantage point. The thing seemed to notice the Autobot insignia on her –well let's just call them door wings for lack of a better term-and went berserk, charging her like some overgrown bull and knocking her against the wall, stunning her.

"Arcee!" Jack shouted. This got the thing's attention and it turned on him, going berserk again, but this time in reaction to the glowing Key card.

"Oh no you don't!" I rushed forward and gave the brute a good swipe across the face with my sword, making the bug-bot howl in pain. Arcee had recovered from the attack and rained laser fire on the bug-bot, drawing its attention away from me and Jack and giving the human time to contact Team Prime and ask what was attacking us. Apparently it was something called an Insecticon, a Decepticon with a giant insect alt. mode.

"Jack, Zee, go! I'll deal with the Insecticon!" She ordered.

"Seriously?" Jack protested in disbelief.

"Jack, her speed and agility is more than a match for that thing. Let's go." Before the human could argue further, I picked him and sprinted into the passage, the door sealing shut behind us.


	7. Chapter 7: Safe and Sound

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 7

It was near pitch black inside the passage, the only light coming from Jack's spacesuit, the Key card, and my own sword, which shone a faint gold. Using these light sources, we continued on the path which led steadily downward. Jack seemed to sense trouble would somehow find or follow us and grabbed some sort of metal stick that he saw embedded in the ground before jogging to catch up with me. I let him go ahead when I noticed another sealed door, and when the human approached it, it lit up and opened in response, leading into a large platform that dropped down to a seemingly bottomless abyss. The Key glowed brighter than ever as he walked forward onto the platform, and the floor lit up in a square, looking for all the world like a boxy key hole. Jack put two and two together and placed the Key card in its allotted space. Instantly, the Key card enlarged itself, fitting the space perfectly. Jack yelped as the part of the platform he was standing on began to retract and upright itself, throwing him to the ground. A large sphere of white light encircled with rings rose from a hole in the floor and cast an eerie glow on the surrounding walls, giving them an otherworldly sheen. Veins of blue light began to flow into the Key from its holder, memories and experiences of past Primes downloading into it.

"This is…w-wow!" The human breathed in awe. He activated his suit's comm. link and reported, "Commencing download. I think."

We stood in silence as the Key continued to fill. Whirring noises met my audios and hundreds, possibly thousands, of tiny, big-eyed creatures flew at Vector Sigma and began chewing away at it.

"Scraplets!" Jack shouted. I gave him a clueless look. "They eat anything metal. Hey, why aren't they swarming you? You're metal."

I gave him my best "I-have no-frickin'-idea" look and wracked my head for ideas on how to get rid of the little biters. The situation went from bad to worse as our old buddy the Isecticon flew in in beetle mode, transformed, and landed near us. To our surprise however, it backed away when it noticed the Scraplet swarm. I saw a metaphorical light bulb go off in the human's head. He grabbed one of the Scraplets and threw it at the bug-bot, who tried to make a break for it. The Scraplets completely forgot about their former dinner and swarmed the Insecticon, reducing him to a pile of body parts as it fell into the abyss below.

"Okay that was….creative." I congratulated him. A loud _Beeeeeeep!_ signaled the download was complete. The glowing white sphere lowered back into the ground and the key holder door thing slipped back into the platform seamlessly. The Key card had shrunk back to pocket size and Jack ran up and grabbed it. A blue and pink motorcycle roared in, transforming into the friendly and familiar form of Arcee.

"I have the Matrix!" Jack exclaimed, holding the Key card up to his partner.

"Let's roll." She said, reverting back to her alt. mode. Jack climbed on and the three of us stormed out of the chamber and back to the surface.

We followed the same route we had used to get to Vector Sigma and soon saw the open spacebridge sitting there awaiting our arrival, its green hue a welcome spot of color. Arcee radioed Ratchet about our arrival, as did I, but both of us received only an unnerving silence.

Something was wrong. Arcee even voiced my thoughts for me, saying exactly that.

"We can… _not_ go through, right?" asked Jack nervously.

"We _have _to. Getting the big guy's memory back is vital." I said. "Aello says she is sensing a dark, malicious aura on the other end of the portal. Want to take a guess at who that might be?"

"Megatron. Go figure. Soundwave must've intercepted the frequency we were using." Arcee realized. "Wait, if your persona can sense him, can you tell us the right time to barge in and attack him?" she asked.

"Way ahead of ya. On my cue, you and I will run in and distract the maniac long enough for Jack to restore Prime's memory. Sound good to you?"

"Fine by me."

I went silent as Aello tracked Megatron's aura, waiting for him to have his back to us.

"…._**NOW!**_" I hollered. The two of us rushed in and tackled the warlord, sending him flying to the far side of the cavern. Arcee had jumped off and ran over to the other Autobots, who were lying unconscious on the cave floor. I kept Megatron pinned, but the guy's brute strength was more than enough to shake me off. He picked me up and slung me aside as though I weighed nothing, charging Arcee who had helped her teammates back to their pedes. The warlord pinned her against the wall and snarled at her,

"Arcee. How nice of you to join our little reunion. Now if you please, _the Matrix!_" The cyclebot gave him a smug smile in return.

I got back up from the ground, reeling at little from the impact. I was fuming. _No one hurts my friends and gets away with it!_ I screamed internally. I drew my sword and rushed forward, Aello's anger lending me strength. I slashed the blade across his back, leaving a nasty gash that dripped Energon. Megatron howled in agony and swung blindly at me, once more sending me reeling from the blow. I staggered back up and saw Optimus kneeling in front of Jack, his expression blank as his mind was restored. I held back a cheer as the download completed, the Key card rising and spinning before hovering in front of the Prime's face. Megatron noticed this and his optics widened in something close to fear, before sprinting forward and slamming Ratchet out his way as the medic attempted to slow him.

It was just enough.

The warlord brought his arm blade down in a killing blow, only for the blade to be stopped mere inches from his foe's face, true fear in his blood red optics.

"_Megatron!"_ The Prime brought a massive metal fist back. _"BE GONE!"_ He swung his fist at the Decepticon's faceplates, sending his enemy flying into a rock pillar and slumping down, defeated for the moment. I jumped up and let out a hearty cheer.

[Base to Arcee and Zodiac. We're reading five Autobot life signals down there. Is Prime with you?] Fowler asked over our internal comm. links.

[And Jack.] Arcee confirmed, knowing Nurse Darby would be anxious to know about her son.

A low growl interrupted this cheerful exchange, a clawed hand gripping the platform and pulling the warlord back up. It was time to go.

[Groundbridge please! Bucket head looks pissed as hell!] I demanded. I heard Miko snicker over the comm. link at this comment.

As requested, a groundbridge opened up a few meters to my left. The others looked at it in confusion, thinking it might be of Decepticon make.

"It's ours! Everybody in!" I shouted. Team Prime ran in without further hesitation, bar Optimus, who gave a final parting shot at his foe before diving in sideways.

Everyone filed into base through the portal, the humans running up to their guardians in relief at seeing them alive. I walked over to stand near Ratchet, who had taken quite the beating from Megatron, and helped him out with self-repair. My healing abilities weren't the strongest of the Knights, but they were still powerful. Optimus was the last to walk through the portal and step in, his team stopping their conversations and turning respectfully to their leader. I decided to make things interesting.

I cracked my knuckles and smiled impishly at the Autobots. "Alright, everyone-_**GROUP TACKLE HUG THE PRIME!**_" I cried.


	8. Chapter 8: Operation Bumblebee (Part 1)

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 8

The base had relaxed back into the normal swing of things now that the Autobot's "Head Honcho" as Bulkhead called him, was back with his team. I was glad too, for obvious reasons. I had taken a perch up in one of the rafters to simply watch and observe, content to see everyone at ease, more or less. Ratchet and Optimus had both informed me that Project: Iacon was a series of files and information packets stolen when the Decepticons stormed Iacon, detailing the location of various relics and weapons. Unfortunately, the Prime couldn't remember anything during his time as Orion Pax, and seeing as I didn't know Autobot code, I wasn't of much help in the matter.

Ratchet, Bumblebee and Optimus had all left base to investigate a strange, ancient frequency, so Arcee and I held down the fort while they were away. The three Autobots weren't gone for very long, and returned with a weird looking device that I'd never seen. So, naturally, I asked what it was.

"The Spark Extractor is a weapon capable of removing and extinguishing any sparks in its radius once activated. We will most likely never use it, as the Autobots never resort to mass murder, even during war." The amber and white medic explained. I nodded in understanding. This thing was dangerous no matter which side had it. Ratchet walked off to continue his examination of the weapon, and upon finding something, motioned the others to come. He pointed at faint marking on the lower portion of the Extractor.

"Here. The source of the ancient frequency we detected." The medic pointed to his find.

"An Iacon homing beacon." Prime said.

"What's an Autobot locator doing on _that?" _Arcee asked. I was puzzled as well, since apparently the Decepticons were the ones who created it.

"Many of the Decepticon weapons confiscated during the war were stored in the vaults below Iacon."

"Where you once worked as an Archivist." I said.

"Iacon was both a cultural center and a stronghold, which Megatron raided when Autobot troops were at their weakest. It stands to reason, that in anticipation of Iacon being overrun by enemy forces, these weapons were jettisoned off-world to keep them far from Decepticon reach."

"Clearly the beacons were a safety measure, should the weapons ever be found by the undesired party." The medic finished.

"Do you…think this is the only intel you supplied to Megatron?" Arcee inquired.

"Arcee, I tried scanning his mind for info (the Matrix finally recognized me as an ally and let me in), but the time span we're interested in….it's completely blank, nothing." I informed her.

"Optimus, Megatron clearly took advantage of your amnesia, but for all we know the Spark Extractor is the extent of it. Have you stopped to consider he might have suggested otherwise merely to plague your thoughts?" Ratchet tried to reassure his leader.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee had left for a routine patrol that same evening in some desert area. I was unable to accompany them since I had yet to acquire an alt. mode. I wanted out of the base so badly, not that I didn't enjoy the company of the 'Bots, I just didn't like being cooped up inside for so long. The silo _did_ have an open top area, actually the top of the mesa the base was built inside of, and was allowed up there as often as I liked. That's where I was when some kind of commotion occurred inside (I have really good hearing, comes with being part harpy I guess). Bumblebee was the picture of despair on the medical berth, door wings drooped and optics cast down. Raf was attempting to cheer the young scout up, but Miko said something and he reacted, looking even more upset than before.

"….I'm missing something here, aren't I?"

"Bumblebee's T-cog is missing." Raf told me.

"Wait, you mean that thingy that lets you guys transform, right? What happened to it?" I was astonished. Being a shape-shifter, I honestly had no use for one but had one anyway. All I needed was a memory of the thing I wanted to shift into, I didn't need to "scan" a vehicle mode.

"But the Decepticons transform too, why would they steal that?" Jack argued.

"Megatron may be known to raise zombies but he's no ghoul." Ratchet said.

_Zombies? Uh….okay I'll ask about that later._

"If Megatron wasn't behind this, then who was?" the tween looked at the medic imploringly.

"The ones who dissected Breakdown." Bulkhead growled.

"And tried to gut me." Arcee added.

"MECH…and it would appear their knowledge of Cybertronian biotech had grown more sophisticated." Ratchet shook his head worriedly at this.

I raised my hand as if I were in a classroom. "Uh sorry to be the really uninformed Knight I am at the moment, but who or what is MECH? And what's this about 'zombies'?"

"I'll answer the first part of your question right now. MECH is a human organization with possible military ties that wants to use us as lab rats to make highly advanced and dangerous weapons. We've encountered them before but they've never stolen any parts from us. I honestly thought they would've taken Bumblebee's blasters, not his T-cog." The medic explained. "I'll tell you about the 'zombies' later; right now we need to get our scout's part back."

I nodded. "Fair enough. I'll help in any way I can."

The kids had school the next day, so I was stuck in the silo again. Ratchet had gone to pick Rafael up and Optimus and Bulkhead had just returned from, well, wherever they'd gone, and Arcee was somewhere in the base. Poor Bumblebee looked about as stir crazy as I was, not being able to go outside at all. At least _I_ was allowed up top. An annoying beeping was coming from the main computer and indicating a location on a map; whether it was MECH or a relic was debatable as it was only a blip on the screen with groundbridge coordinates. Both mechs had run to the console eagerly, though 'Bee more so of the two.

"This could be it. I'll alert the others." said Bulkhead. The scout had beeped in defiance, saying they could handle it themselves, with my aid of course.

"I know the three of us can handle it 'Bee but there's no reason to….What're you trying to prove?"

Bumblebee had beeped another argument telling him that he was still capable even without an alt. mode. The bulky green Wrecker gave a resigned sigh of defeat.

"All right, come on then you two."

Bulkhead had exited the groundbridge first, as he was the only one with an alt. mode out of the three of us. Technically I had three, but I didn't want to scare them by showing my wolf mode or dragon mode. Pegasus mode they might be okay with, but that mode was solely for aerial transport, unlike my dragon mode which was aerial combat and transport. The green Wrecker gave an all clear and Bumblebee and I stepped out cautiously after him. We had a signal tracker in case what the computer had detected was an Iacon relic or weapon, just in case.

"I still don't know how you talked me into this; you're worse than Miko!" Bulkhead sighed exasperatedly.

"Hey I never said a thing. I'm just here to help." I huffed. The scout gave a long trill, saying Miko talked way more.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I know." He answered. "Not every mission ends in a high speed pursuit but without your….." Bulkhead trailed off at noticing the death glare Bumblebee was giving him. "Fine I'll drop it. But if Optimus finds out-"

"He won't and if he does, I'll take the blame. Besides, I highly doubt he would punish 'Bee simply for trying to locate his T-cog or an Iacon weapon or relic." I argued. Both Autobots simply stared at me.

The tracker started to beep, thankfully drawing the green Wrecker's stare away from me. "Signal's coming from over there…and it's coming fast!" The three of us turned our attention to a cave entrance where the tracker said the signal was coming from. A red Aston Martin sports car zoomed out, and a familiar voice jeered,

"Catch me if you can!" Knockout taunted in a sing-song voice.

"I'll get him." Bulkhead quickly changed his mind, however, on seeing Breakdown charge him, hammer raised to attack. "Oookay, you two get him!"

We both turned and took off after the Decepticon medic, me taking to the air while the scout sprinted on the ground. There was no way he could keep up on foot though, and in robot mode he was just too large for me to carry, even in dragon form. Bumblebee tried to activate his guns to shoot Knockout's tires out, but those must have been scanned via his T-cog and refused to work.

To my surprise the Aston Martin screeched to a stop in the middle of the road and tossed out another taunt.

"Bumblebee where's your famous 'horse power' huh? Show me some speed!" the red sports car took off again, laughing. Instead of sprinting after him though, the scout noticed an abandoned gas station and with it, an old abandoned pickup truck. He picked the truck up, placed it in the road and kicked off of it. Basically he was using the truck like an overgrown skateboard. I personally thought that was very innovative of him, until the truck's age and rusted state caught up with it. One of its tires blew out, making it lose some of its steering power.

Then shit hit the fan real fast.

There was a sharp turn ahead, which Knockout maneuvered with ease. Not so for Bumblebee. He tried to get the truck to turn, but with the back left wheel missing, it couldn't make it. The truck flew off the lane and the scout went with it, toppling over the cliff and into the canyon below. There was no way I could catch him, but maybe, just maybe, I could slow his fall.

Praying that this would work, I switched to my dragon form and swooped down, grabbing him in my claws. The poor thing had fainted during the fall, so he couldn't see what had grabbed him. I pumped my wings furiously, trying to decrease his descent speed so as to be non-fatal when he hit the ground. Miraculously, it was working and when reaching an appropriate height, I dropped him as gently as I could to the rocky floor, but there was still a loud thud when he landed. I had to get him back to base fast.

[Ratchet! Anyone! I need a groundbridge to my location fast! I'll tell you what happened after!]


	9. Chapter 9: Operation Bumblebee (Part 2)

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 9

Somewhat to my surprise, I didn't receive any questions from the grumpy medic as he opened a groundbridge as I had requested. Bumblebee was still out cold so I was forced to drag him in by one of his pedes.

Ratchet had immediately snatched the scout and placed him on an exam table to scan for any possible injuries. He glared at me, silently waiting for an explanation of some kind.

"Look, before you lug a wrench or something at me, hear me out. The computer had spit out another location, but we didn't know if it was MECH or what. I followed the two mainly to keep watch over them. Turns out it was another homing beacon, but we never did find out what the item or relic was; the 'Cons got to it first." I explained hurriedly.

"Of all the scrap-brained idea….Taking Bumblebee into a possible chase scenario when he no longer has the ability to access his wheels?!" The medic fumed.

"H-he improvised." Bulkhead stammered. This just earned him another death glare from Ratchet. This had to be the first time I'd ever been downright scared of a medic. He eventually stopped the death stare and turned to me.

"From all that Bulkhead explained to me, Bumblebee fell off a cliff, yet he bears no marks to indicate such a fall. Care to elaborate on how that happened?"

"I caught up to him and slowed his fall enough to keep him from serious harm." I said matter-of-factly. Ratchet gave me a somewhat dubious look.

"You caught him and slowed his fall? I'm sorry but no matter how strong your wings are, at your size that is impossible."

Optimus walked in at that point, somehow silently (how a bot his size does that is incredible). I glared accusingly at him.

"You mean you haven't told them yet?" I asked.

"I believed it best for them to hear it straight from you. Go ahead." He encouraged.

My wings drooped and I gave a sigh of defeat. "You want me to show then tell, or tell then show?"

"That is up to you."

The presentation was postponed when Raf noticed the scout's optics flicker back to life. Bumblebee sat up and rubbed his helm with a pained buzz, causing Ratchet to check him over one more time. Sadly for him, this merely gave the medic the opportune moment to scold him over his reckless behavior. The scout gave an anguished bweep in response to the scolding, saying that without his T-cog, he was useless. Rafael said that wasn't true at all, and I agreed with him.

Arcee broke up the little pity party abruptly with the help of Optimus. As soon as he was content that he had driven his point home, he started to walk off. Curiously, the medic followed him, and being intrigued as to what he might say, I tagged along behind him.

"Optimus, you and I both know there is a way to fix Bumblebee." Ratchet murmured.

"A transplant; but that would require a donor." The Prime began to walk off again after having spoken. The medic seemed to come to a decision.

"You need look no further than the Autobot standing before you."

I very nearly yelped at him saying this. The Autobot medic, willing to give away his ability to transform to help the young scout? Wouldn't _I_ be a better option, since I didn't even _need _a T-cog to begin with? Optimus had given Ratchet a quizzical look, probably trying to detect some sort of sarcasm in the statement, but it quickly grew to one of…almost pitiful understanding. There was something big I was missing here.

"A generous offer, old friend, but your solution would only trade one Autobot's handicap for another's." I was listening to the two of them talk in a half-dazed state.

"I don't rely on my T-cog, not like Bumblebee does! The ability to transform is virtually wasted on me! This is where I spend my days, where my thoughts and hands are of value-not my weapons or wheels." Ratchet cast a glance over to where Arcee, Bulkhead, and the kids were trying to cheer Bumblebee up. "Our team can't afford to be shy even _one_ warrior."

"You make a compelling case, but know that we will find Bumblebee's T-cog."

"Optimus, MECH are _savages!_ Who knows_ what_ damage they may have already inflicted on it! Or…or if I will be able to repair it." The medic's normally stern amber and green aura faded to a dull grey and black, indicating some personal anguish. I was inclined to hug the poor bot right then and there, but held myself back.

"Ratchet, you did everything you could-" The Autobot leader attempted to soothe him, but he was unceremoniously cut off.

"Puh-leez! Do you really think this is simply about my inability to repair Bumblebee's _voice box?!_" Ratchet scoffed, though the impartial attitude seemed a smidge forced.

My half-dazed state was halted and if I had been walking, I would've stopped dead in my tracks. _He_ was the field medic who had tried to fix the scout's voice box back on Cybertron?! That was why he offering his part, he felt like he needed to make up for his imagined failure. I say imaged because he didn't really fail, the scout's voice box had been severely damaged true, but he was still talking, just not in English like everyone else. It was sort of like advanced, Cybertronian Morse Code.

"Doc, you don't need to give yours. I can donate mine instead. Heck, I don't even need mine to shape-shift; that's an innate ability that I-that all the Knights have." I offered.

"That, unfortunately, is out of the question. This form you have right now is still imbued with large amounts of mana and magic; if we were to implant your T-cog inside Bumblebee, the side-effects might kill him. We aren't trained to handle that kind of mystical power and it could overload his circuits and cause irreparable harm." Optimus said. "Though the offer is appreciated, Ratchet's would be far safer."

The transplant took place almost immediately after that conversation. Since Ratchet was the other participant, Arcee was picked to do it instead. Let's just say she didn't take it well. I would've offered, but I'm no Theurge, and though I may be part Diviner, Cybertronian anatomy baffled me completely; it was just too complex. Titan would've loved this-he had no trouble with any form of technology, no matter how advanced or alien. However, I was told only to contact my fellow Knights if the situation were dire or it was some kind of crisis, and no matter how important this was, I don't think it counted as "crisis" material.

Both Autobots were placed in stasis in preparation, but as soon as the two were out cold, loud beeping came from the main console. Miko freaked, thinking one of the bots were flat lining, but it was merely another Iacon homing beacon, the signal being located somewhere in the Himalayas. I was told to stay behind and monitor the kids and the two stasis-induced Autobots, and Optimus, Arcee and Bulkhead departed immediately, in the hope of snagging the item before the enemy did.

They just love leaving me out of the action, don't they?

Bumblebee was the first one to wake up, and it coincided nicely with an abrupt call from Agent Fowler. The scout beeped and trilled, asking what was wrong, but the dark-skinned Agent had no idea what he was saying.

"Huh? Where's Prime?" Fowler looked around through the web-cam he was using, but it only showed so much of the base. 'Bee beeped again, explaining he had no clue where they were.

"Look, just let him know: I just received satellite imagery which I believe pinpoints the center of operations of MECH." He spoke slowly as though the scout was deaf, but the way he said it only added to the effect it produced. Bumblebee's optics whirred and widened and his door wings twitched slightly. He beeped again at Fowler, who was nearly beside himself with frustration.

"Oh for the love of-Get me someone who speaks something other than bleep!" The Agent shouted.

"We can help!" Raf and I chimed in.

"What? Do I hear a fuzor in need of voice box repair?" the medic must have been half-conscious and heard Fowler's exclamation, but his words were slurred as though he weren't all there.

"WHAT'S A FUZOR?! WHAT'S GOIN' ON OVER THERE?!" Fowler once again tried to see who had spoken through the video feed, but the med-bay was out of immediate view.

"I am able…Just ask Ben Toller….He was all mendreal(?) before I….put a tiger in his tank." I swear he must have been dreaming or something, but I couldn't help myself and fell to the floor laughing hysterically. The medic fell back into stasis again and stopped rambling for the moment. Fowler's only response to the strange outburst was a helpless, clueless glance at the only, currently sane, beings in the room. Those would be the kids, Bumblebee, and possibly me once I managed to get a hold of myself.

The scout pleaded his case to Raf, but the little techy knew it was far too risky and told him so flat out. Jack requested that the coordinates be sent to the base so Optimus could look it over. Fowler did so, but not without giving the human a skeptical look. He probably realized Jack and the others were up to something.

Just as I suspected, Bumblebee groundbridged to the location (with a little help from Raf who knew how to work the controls). He agreed that I should come along and assist if things got crazy; apparently MECH had weapons capable of temporarily shutting down a Cybertronians systems, but my being not fully Cybertronian to begin with might level the playing field, since I was immune to non-enchanted weaponry.

The MECH "base" was really just an abandoned warehouse located on the fringes of an evergreen forest. The main door looked about ready to fall off its hinges if given a proper beating. Both of us stood side by side and kicked the door down and open, police raid style, and dozens of red targeting beams of high end sniper rifles zeroed in on us. What surprised me most was that Starscream was there too and that the MECH soldiers weren't attacking him. Had he teamed up with them?

"No T-cog! He's unarmed." The grey Seeker sneered before firing one of his trade-mark missiles at us. _Seriously? I helped save him and THIS is how I get thanked? By getting shot at?_ I thought. No one stabs a Knight in the back!

One MECH soldier stood out from the others-he was the only one not wearing a mask. A long, badly healed scar slashed diagonally across one of his eyes; cold, ruthless eyes, the eyes of someone who considered his own soldiers expendable and cared nothing of casualties. He ran out of the warehouse after telling something to Starcream, making the Seeker boil in fury, but obeying nonetheless.

Bullets peppered Bumblebee as he bolted around the room, but conveniently phased right through me, causing some of the soldiers to halt their attack and check their guns for malfunctions. A few outright screamed and ran out yelling "Ghost! Ghost!". Ah well, to each their own.

I was forced to refrain from using any combat spells in this small of an enclosed space, which would only make things harder on the scout. I just had to keep their focus on me, not 'Bee. That wouldn't be too difficult, seeing as most of them were valiantly but foolishly still shooting at me, more concerned about the possible Autobot "ghost" in the room and frankly, who could blame them?

The scout made quick work of the remaining MECH agents, using large barrels and other objects to his advantage. He didn't look too badly injured aside from a few tiny bullet wounds, but those were mainly superficial damage and could easily be fixed by a weak healing spell from me. He had managed to locate his missing part, tearing it out of a rather clumsily made copy of a Cybertronian. Starscream was lying dazed on the floor where Bumblebee had thrown a nearby container at him, but was already recovering from the blow. That might be a problem….and I was right. While the scout was still clinging to the robot frame on the wall, examining his T-cog for any damage, the grey Seeker had fired at him and made him lose his grip on the part. And of course it rolled right up to Starscream's feet, prompting the Seeker to pluck it up and hold his gun to it.

"One step and your precious bio-mech is scrap." He threatened. I could tell he wasn't kidding, so both of remained where we were. Nevertheless, I had my sword out if he tried anything funny. Of course, Bumblebee tried to be a hero and demanded Starscream drop it, but without his guns or wheels, it was an empty threat.

"Or what, you'll shoot?" he leered. The scout could do little but glare in response. "How sad, to be incapable of achieving vehicle mode, to experience the sensation of speed."

_Good, he's getting cocky. Keep going pal, let your guard down._ I wished. Just as I'd anticipated, he continued gloating.

"How very pathetic, to be a failure as an Autobot." Starscream sneered. For one split second, he looked away from us and unwittingly gave Bumblebee an opening. The scout charged and landed a solid blow to the ex-Decepticon, sending the T-cog flying and causing the Seeker to be momentarily stunned. I took the cue, launched myself into the air, and grabbed the part in my hand. I didn't anticipate for Starscream to recover so quickly; while he was still on the ground, he fired one shot at the T-cog….and hit it dead on, severely burning it. It dropped to the ground, its normally shining gold color fading to a dull, ugly brown, similar to unpolished bronze or copper. Starscream laughed manically and took off through a hole in the roof, leaving the poor scout to pick up his part and look at me appealingly. I shook my head sadly and lead him outside.

Much to our astonishment, Optimus, Bulkhead and Arcee were standing outside with guns drawn, clearly expecting a fight, but withdrew them immediately on seeing the two of us walk out. Bumblebee held out the damaged T-cog to his leader with the most pitiful face I'd ever seen on anyone in my life. The Prime activated his comm. link, requesting a groundbridge back to base and for Ratchet to prepare for surgery.

A few hours later, the scout was out of stasis and standing (I'd healed his minor injuries with thanks from the medic). He instantly tried to transform, but it didn't work off the bat. He tried three more times, each attempt ending in failure. Bumblebee hung his head in defeat….then changed into his vehicle mode of a custom black and yellow muscle car. Ratchet looked ready to hug the bot or person closest to him while everyone else let out a cheer of victory. The muscle car spun around on its wheels and popped open its doors, honking and beeping an invitation to Rafael.

"Anywhere. Just drive!" Raf accepted before climbing in. Bumblebee peeled out of the exit tunnel at near breakneck speed, making the medic shout a few warning at him, which most likely weren't heard.

"Woah! 'Bee's T-cog looked like it was ready for the scrapyard!" Bulkhead said.

"Hard to believe that the Doc repaired it." Arcee finished. I walked over the smiling medic and gave him a friendly hug.

"Nice job, Doc. Nice job." I said.


	10. Chapter 10: Loose Cannon

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 10

The next few days went by rather uneventfully aside from a few skirmishes and the routine scouting and patrol missions. Everyone seems pretty at ease-well, as at ease as you can get in the middle of a massive civil war.

Agent Fowler would tip us off about possible MECH locations or Decepticon activity on a regular basis, so calls from him were normal. Today though….he looked ready to snap someone's head off he was so angry.

"Prime! What in blazes are your people doing out here?!" Fowler demanded. "We had an agreement: No collateral damage!"

"Uh, Fowler? All the bots are here; none of them are unaccounted for." I spoke up.

"Then explain why I'm receiving reports of two jumbo-sized bots mixing it twenty miles outside Omaha." He retorted.

"Decepticons?" Ratchet asked.

"There has been plenty of infighting lately. Megatron can't seem to keep his ranks in line." Arcee commented.

"Well I'm just arriving on the scene; have a look." The face cam switched to show live footage from the plane's onboard recording system. What looked like a badly mangled ship was in the center of the footage, with a purple and green bot taking cover behind it.

"I dunno. Paint job aside it _can't_ be Skyquake, you and Optimus pounded him into the ground!" Bulkhead said to Bumblebee.

"Yeah, before Starscream yanked him back out as some kind of undead Terrorcon." The cyclebot corrected. "The question still stands. Who's the dance partner?"

The camera panned over the field to show another ship with a different bot hiding behind it. The image quality sucked, but it showed a white robot with head fins and a barely discernible Autobot crest on him.

"Huh, so it is one of the 'Bots. Who though? I don't recognize him." I asked.

"Wheeljack. Haha 'Jackie's back!" Bulkhead laughed, before clapping everyone in front of him on the back, causing them to stagger from the impact.

"I don't care if Abraham Lincoln's back! We have to contain the situation _before we all wind up on the 11 'o clock news!_" The footage changed to a steaming Agent Fowler shouting into the camera.

Let's just say that was a pretty good incentive to get over there fast.

The groundbridge deposited myself and Team Prime directly behind the one called Wheeljack, who was kneeling and wincing due to a large wound on his shoulder. Clearly this guy wasn't a strategic fighter on any account. Bulkhead and Prime both ran over to help the injured Autobot to his feet, while the rest of us charged the unknown assailant. The purple and green mech was obviously a Seeker due to his body design and jet wings on his back and had a Decepticon insignia on his chest.

The nameless Seeker was, unlike Wheeljack, a strategic fighter, but seemed a little trigger-happy and was firing round after round of energon blasts at us. Seeing that reinforcements had arrived and was completely outnumbered now, he turned tail and ran, scanning Agent Fowler's jet in the process. He flew off without firing off another shot. That was odd. Most 'Cons would cheap shot the enemy before fleeing, why didn't this one? Was he different from the others?

Apparently a stray shot from Wheeljack had caused a nearby gas station to explode during the fray, but he didn't seem aware of the fact.

"Dreadwing rigged the place to blow." He snarled.

"Dreadwing?" Bulkhead asked. Wheeljack didn't seem to hear him though.

"Actually that was your handiwork, smart-ass." I corrected him.

"It's called a 'gas station', kinda like an energon depot. Doesn't mix well with blaster fire." Bulkhead informed his friend. The white mech just shrugged and turned away.

"Huh. Well our 'Con is gettin' away." He started walking off.

I snickered. _Bad call buddy. If you're here, you play by Prime's rule, not yours._ Optimus side stepped Wheeljack and stood in front of him, blocking his path. _Ohhh he's gonna get chewed out now._

"Wheeljack, there are other considerations. While on this planet, you will follow my lead."

I stared. What, no reprimand? Just a "do as I tell you" statement? Heh. That would probably come later back at the base.

Ratchet had set to work welding the wound back together as soon as we hauled Wheeljack in. Watching the burly fighter wince and pull his shoulder away was so weird, considering his though guy personality.

"Ow! Take it easy Doc. I need that arm."

"Hold still and maybe you'll keep it." The medic shot back. The white mech stopped complaining and turned to the Autobot leader.

"Look, Commander, sorry about the fireworks display. Won't happen again." He actually sounded slightly apologetic, if that was even possible for him. "But I tracked Dreadwing across a hundred light years of space!"

"I thought you were roving the galaxy, you know, looking for Autobot refugees or something?" His friend asked.

"I was till I found one…a Wrecker."

"Who?!"

"…Seaspray." The way he spoke, I had a bad feeling about what had happened to the fellow Wrecker. Bulkhead didn't seem to take the hint however and gave a laugh.

"Ha! And how is old barnacle butt?"

"Not so good Bulk. Blown to bits actually."

The green Wrecker reeled back at this information. "What? No!"

I clenched my fist and growled. "Dreadwing. That's why you're after him. He's the one who did it."

The white Wrecker nodded and went on to explain what had happened and how he had ended up here. Once the story was ended, he turned to me. "Who are, though? You weren't here the last time I was here."

"Me? I'm just here to help out whenever I can. Not officially an Autobot, but I offer combat support when it's needed and occasionally help out Ratchet with repairs with my healing abilities."

He stared and blinked a few times as though he hadn't heard me right. "You? A fighter? You don't look like much of a fighter to me. You're too…small to pack much of a punch."

I laughed. "Oh? You want a demonstration do ya? Alright then, meet me in one of the training rooms in ten minutes…if you think you beat me that is."

The demo was stopped when Fowler stormed into the room. "YOU! LOOSE CANNON! Your cowboy antics almost blew our cover!" he yelled.

"Cover?" the white mech gave a blank stare.

"I don't have a vehicle mode, but we're robots in disguise smart-ass. You need an earth based vehicle form outside of here." I said.

"That space ship you shot down? NOT EARTH BASED! I had to jump through some big hoops to get it hauled out of plain sight!" If he'd had a gun on him, he no doubt would have fired off a few rounds on Wheeljack to get his point across. "You need to keep a tighter leash on your people, Prime!"

Oh boy, wrong thing to say. The white wrecker turned on him in a flash. "A tighter leash? Lemme clarify, tiny." He started stomping towards the liaison.

"Jackie…" Bulkhead warned him. Of course, he didn't listen. Wheeljack thrust his face forward and glared. "I'm NOT one of Optimus Prime's people." Instead of flattening Fowler, he spun on his heel and walked off down one of the hallways.

"I'll talk to him. With your permission." Bulkhead asked.

"I'll come too. A good training session may let him blow off some of that anger. I know the type well enough. Titan is a lot like him."

"Of course. Go." Prime conceded. I jogged off down the hallway Wheeljack had disappeared down, Bulkhead following close behind me.

We found him sulking in a large cave carved into the mesa, easily big enough to hold his ship, which was parked there and on which he was leaning. I let his friend approach first, while I hung back in the shadows, and let them talk for a bit. After letting the white mech rant for a bit, I stepped forward and offered a hand. He didn't take it.

"Hey, you okay? That training fight offer is still up, if you want it." The only response I got was snort, at least a first. He refused to make eye contact with me, but did ask a mumbled question.

"You know, you never did tell me who you were. All you said was why you were here and what you do. You never gave your name. And why the slag do you have wings? Autobots don't fly."

"Well, like I said earlier, I'm not a 'Bot. I'm not even Cybertronian. I'm Spiral Knight Zodiac, but everyone here just calls me Zee for short, since that title is a bit of a mouthful." I laughed at the last part of this statement. "As for the latter question, all Knights have wings, but being an Empyrean, they're part of my anatomy. I can't make them go away no matter what form I take."

Wheeljack's countenance underwent a complete change. His jaw dropped and he backed up in shock and, possibly, a little fear.

"Oh please, do I honestly look terrifying to you? I know you've faced worse; I've been mentally scanning you even since you arrived." His eyes widened when I said that. "And let me guess. You want to avenge your fellow Wreckers by going after Dreadwing, yeah? I want in."

"Wait…seriously? You'd be willing to do that? But Prime won't allow it and you know it." He argued.

I smiled at him. "Zafarian elders teach that the line between revenge and avenge is easily blurred. The humans also have a saying I think you'd like. 'Sometimes it is better to ask forgiveness first and permission later.'"

The white Wrecker laughed at this. "Wow, Mags would've downright _hated_ you. You don't listen to authority figures a lot huh?"

"Oh I do, and I'm betting you do as well. But for you, the person has to _earn_ your respect before you respect them back, am I right?" I guessed.

He shrugged. "True enough." A beep from inside the ship drew his attention and forced him inside. Bulkhead I followed him in to see what was going on.

[Wheeljack, I know you're out there, listening. I have a proposition for you.] A voice spoke over the ship's comm. channel.

"Is that…?" I trailed off.

"Dreadwing." Wheeljack confirmed.

[Meet me at these coordinates, if you have the spark.] A blip appeared on the ship's radar and the communication cut out.

"It's a trap." I stated.

"I know. But when has that ever stopped me?" He turned to his friend. "You commin' with?"

Bulkhead seemed wary of doing this without his leader knowing. "At least let me call for back up."

"You know Wreckers don't call for back up-"He retorted.

"They call for clean up!" The two high fived and the ship roared off to the meeting place. I had a bad feeling this might end in disaster. At least I was there to try and prevent the two from doing anything stupid.

The coordinates provided by Dreadwing turned out to be in a forest in the middle of nowhere (seriously, what is with the 'Bots and 'Cons and fighting in forests lately? They wanna admire the scenery while pummeling each other to death?). It was fairly easy to sneak up on the purple Seeker since his back was to us.

"Ah, I wasn't certain you'd come." For a Decepticon, he didn't sound evil. Well not as evil as Megatron or Starscream.

"I don't like unfininshed business." Wheeljack had gone in alone, while Bulkhead and I had taken positions around the clearing. Both fighters assumed battle stances, each ready to fling a grenade at the other in a moment's notice, and at an invisible signal, each threw their explosives at their opponent. They had aimed at exactly the same place and both bombs impacted each other, generating a massive fiery explosion and throwing the fighters back a few feet.

I guess I misjudged the white Wrecker when I had though he didn't know strategy. Using the smoke and dust created by the blast, he jumped up and tried to smash Dreadwing to pieces with a pair of massive katanas. Dreadwing dove out of the way at the last second and ran off. That was my cue; if he made a break for it, I would cut him off. Bulkhead had left before me to reach the upper side of a nearby canyon where we could trap him, so if he tried to take off, he could shoot him down before he got very far.

I flew just above Wheeljack and flinched as multiple proximity bombs went off, but he evaded the blunt of the blast and kept going. The guy was resilient, I'll give him that much.

Dreadwing had reached a dead end, the only way out was up and he had two sword masters on his tail.

I smirked. "If you're thinking about flying out of here…"

"Think again!" Bulkhead shouted from above. The purple Seeker gave a malicious grin and pulled out his detonator. Beeping started coming from above, right around where….

Crap. A bomb was planted on the canyon wall a few feet from where the burly green Autobot was stationed. The device detonated and buried Wheeljack and I under a mountain of rubble, knocking us out cold. My last though before slipping into unconsciousness was _this day just keeps getting better and better….not._

I don't know how long I was out, but I woke up feeling like a Colossus had just curb stomped my entire body. One of my wings was pinned under a large boulder; when I tried to pull it out, white hot pain seared through it, making me scream in agony. My wing wasn't just pinned, it was most likely heavily damaged or broken. My scream must've jarred Wheeljack back awake, because the rubble near me moved slightly.

"Ugh…You okay kid?" He groaned.

"Uh no one of my wings is pinned and possibly broken. Oh yeah, I'm just peachy." I said sarcastically. "If I can't fly, I can't find Dreadwing for you, and a broken wing is no laughing matter for a flyer. We get stir crazy and moody if we can't soar on the wind on a regular basis."

"Huh, thought that was only the case for Seekers, not all flyers. Guess you learn somethin'-"

"Shh! Quiet! I hear footsteps! Heavy ones. Lemme listen." The footfalls continued to get closer with every second. My guess, the being was large, around 20 feet tall, and due to the clanking sound, definitely robotic. The white mech got uneasy during the strained silence and tried to dig himself out with his strength. Did Bulkhead survive the explosion, or was Dreadwing here to finish off us off? I dismissed that though quickly; the aura the being had was friendly, but radiated concern and slight frustration. I could feel the boulders lifting near me and through a few cracks I saw Wheeljack drag himself out. He seemed a little ticked that rescue had taken so long.

"What took you so long Bulk? Don't tell me riding with Prime has made you…" He shut his mouth instantly on seeing who was rescuing him.

"…soft?" he finished lamely. If I could've moved my hands, I would face-palmed. Prime offered a hand and pulled Wheeljack free, chewing him out about putting one of his Autobots at risk.

"Um hello? Aren't you forgetting someone here, pretty boy? Get me out will ya? I'm pinned. I think one of my wings is broken too, so be gentle when you pull that one boulder off." I requested. The two mechs set to work moving the rocks off of me, careful not to move them too fast, lest they further damage my wings.

As soon as I was out, both of them winced at seeing my right wing hang limply at my side. An open wound was situated in the center; the rock had completely torn through it. Their optics went round as they spotted what was dripping out of it.

"Is that…there's no such thing as gold energon…is there?" Wheeljack stuttered.

"No, that isn't energon. It is Ichor, the golden blood of the personas." Prime corrected him. "Are you alright? Can you walk?"

I waved his concern aside. "Eh, I've suffered worse. I'll live, but I might be grounded for a bit until Aello amps up the Ichor's healing factor. I can still stand and fight; I'm not _that_ hurt."

They didn't seem to believe me and gave me skeptical looks.

"Says the femme with a _giant hole in her wing_ that's dripping blood all over the ground." Prime retorted. I was obstinate and refused to return to base though, so he grudgingly permitted me to help find Bulkhead's signal, which was located over a thousand miles from where we were at the moment. Seeing as I was grounded for the time being however, the three of us were forced to use the Jackhammer, the name Wheeljack had given his ship. I have to admit, hitching a ride _on top_ of a Cybertronian space ship was fun as hell, even with an aching, busted wing keeping me tied down. The white Wrecker understood there was an injured passenger up top and tried to keep his ship as steady as possible, for fear of my falling since I was no longer able to fly for the moment. Aello was working overtime trying to mend the injury, but I needed a proper medic to weld the gash back together, and I don't think that Wheeljack had a spare line welder lying around inside somewhere.

Apparently Bulkhead's signal was in a large, derelict looking shipping dock. The place was a maze of cargo boxes and crates but we managed to narrow down the search using a handheld signal tracker, kind of like a weird, alien GPS system without the annoying voice telling you to go this way or that. The signal was just up ahead and around a stack of cargo boxes, but it wasn't what we were expecting at all.

Bulkhead was magnetized and restrained to a large crate…with a one of Dreadwing's bombs stuck to his chest.

"Oh this is just perfect." I spat.

"H-hey guys. Whoa, what happened to Zee?" Bulkhead tried to make light conversation. I was having none of it. The bomb was set to a timer, not linked to the detonator. We couldn't waste any time. I ran up and examined the bomb with Wheeljack, who hid his concern and fear with witty comments and saying he wouldn't leave a partner, or friend, behind.

"Better get to work then." He muttered.

I eyed him. "Have you defused one of these before?"

He pressed a switch and the bomb's inner working and wirings were revealed. "Fail safes, dummy leads, booby traps. It's a work of art."

"I'll take that as a no. Why don't we just overload it? Shut it down?"

"Too risky. That might trigger the thing to blow _before_ the countdown stops."

"If you two don't abort right now all three of us are gonna need clean up." Bulkhead argued.

"Trying to focus here, Bulk." His friend shushed him. I turned around to see if Dreadwing would employ some kind of sneaky ambush.

"Huh? Where'd Optimus go?" I wondered out loud. "I'll go find him and buy you some time. Be right back." I sprinted off to find my friend.

"What? Zodiac, get back here! You're in no condition to fight!" they both shouted.

"Sorry, can't hear you!" I lied. "And who says I'm gonna fight?"

Optimus wouldn't bail on one of his own team members. What was he up to? Thankfully, finding him was easy since I knew how to track his aura signal. I found him crouched behind a wall of red and blue boxes with his gun drawn.

"What're you doing?" I whispered.

"Setting a trap for Dreadwing. I may need your help. How good are you at playing bait?" he replied.

"Oh, playing hide and seek, are we? Where do you want me to lure him to?"

He pointed to the intended trap. "See that crane? The magnetic claw on it should be large enough, and heavy enough, to hold down Dreadwing so he can tell us how to disarm the bomb. If you can get him directly underneath it, I will drop it on him."

"Okay, sounds easy enough. Let's do it." I darted out from cover and spotted the purple Seeker high up. _Oh this is too easy._ Knowing he'd react to any sign of movement from atop his perch, I flashed my blade into the sunlight, causing it scintillate and glimmer. Just as I hoped he would, he leapt down and gave chase. All I had to do know was draw him under the crane. The maze of boxes and crates provided a perfect way to do that. I'd seen the layout of the docking yard from above and memorized it, so I knew where the dead ends were. He didn't, or at least I hoped he didn't.

I would dart out of cover and give him reason to follow me. To add to the effect, I laughed as I did this, further irritating him as I continued to evade him. I lead him out of the maze and noticed Prime scaling the crane scaffolding. I sprinted forward and then use my sword to flash sunlight in Dreadwing's red optics, blinding him and giving me time to "vanish". All I did was hide behind a crate and watched as the purple Seeker glanced around to try and locate me. Little did he know he was directly beneath the crane claw.

'_NOW!'_ I told Prime via telepathy. With a war cry Optimus dropped the claw on top of the unsuspecting Dreadwing, pinning him in place and rendering him incapable of fighting back.

"Wow, you are so _gullible_. And you think of yourself as a tactician? That's just sad." I teased.

"Are you going to keep gloating femme? What is it you want?" Dreadwing snarled, though his question was aimed at Prime, not me. Wheeljack and Bulkhead walked forward to glare at the purple Seeker. Bulkhead had somehow managed to free himself of the restraints earlier, but I didn't bother asking how because the bomb was still ticking down to zero.

"Dreadwing, deactivate the bomb." Prime ordered.

The purple Seeker met his gaze with evenly. "I will gladly sacrifice myself to eliminate you."

"Sorry, buddy. I'm a Herald Knight; the bots won't be going anywhere with me around, even when the bomb goes off. Simply put, they can't die with me around. I can just bring them back. But I won't be so nice with you." I interjected. Dreadwing surrendered upon hearing that.

"Very well. I will do it." The three 'Bots pulled the claw off of him and let him get to his feet. He reached forward with two of his talon-like fingers and snipped a single wire, halting the countdown for good. Maybe this guy _was_ different than most 'Cons; he didn't go back on his word like most would. Too late I saw him press the button on his detonator, and the entire shipping yard filled with beeps from dozens of bombs. Oddly enough, none were close enough to cause damage to us. These were simply distractions to allow Dreadwing to escape, which of course he did. The cargo boxes however….

"So….who do we call for clean up?" Wheeljack asked to no one in particular. The entire place was a mess of flames and metal debris.

"Fowler? He's the one who handles thing kind of thing isn't he?" I suggested.

"No!" the three mechs answered at once.

After calling for a 'bridge back to base, Ratchet nearly threw a fit at seeing my mangled wing. He fussed over it for some time, declaring I would not be allowed on missions until it fully, in every aspect, healed. I threw a few colorful curses at him as I walked out of the medbay with my wing in some weird sling apparatus. Apparently being in this form and not my normal one significantly slowed the Ichor's healing abilities, so the mending process could take days or possibly weeks, even with the occasional weak healing spell to speed it up. As I walked by, I was pleasantly surprised to see Wheeljack apologizing to Optimus for his behavior towards him earlier. He said he would stick around on Earth to try and cripple the Decepticon's mining operations, or simply act as support if the team needed it.

Maybe there was some hope for him after all.


	11. Chapter 11: The New Guy

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 11

After about a week of house arrest (or would it be base arrest?), my wing was almost totally healed. I missed out on a few missions; the big ones being the kids and Fowler storming the _Nemesis_ warship after an infusion of Dark Energon sent it haywire and it began attacking its own crew; tracking down four Cybertronian relics-the phase shifter, the resonance blaster, a sample of ToxEn (now destroyed), and the Apex Armor, two of which we now possessed; a MECH copy of Optimus had to be taken down after it attacked a military base; and seeing Wheeljack go all revengeful buddy after his pal got shot by an Insecticon named Hardshell and nearly became paralyzed(The bug now offline thanks to Miko of all people).

So now everyone was just lounging in the silo command center waiting for any sign of Decepticon activity. Rafael was on a well-known conspiracy website that had proven quite useful in tracking all things Cybertronian, 'Bot or 'Con. The funny thing was, as soon as he found an image of anything Cybertronian in origin, after reporting it to the others, he'd delete the image and replace it with a little animation-either a tap dancing monkey or a talking cat-leaving the person who posted the photo to begin with dumbfounded. Normally said pictures were just images of Bumblebee's alt mode, leaving us to make jokes about how the Paparazzi loved him. I'm rambling and getting off track, however.

Raf was scrolling through the large amount of images on the site when he suddenly reeled back in utter astonishment.

"A Cybertronian escape pod?" He gasped. Everyone in the room stopped cold on hearing this.

"Here, in Earth's atmosphere?" Ratchet demanded. Raf in turn relayed the image to main console screen where we could all see it better. By better I simply mean a larger copy of it, not necessarily better image quality.

"Autobot or Decepticon?" Arcee asked.

"Impossible to tell given the image resolution. Probably taken on a cell phone camera, if the blurriness is any hint." I commented.

"In any event, this merits investigation." Prime spoke up.

"Could be a trap." Arcee added.

"Oh yeah? How?" I argued. To which she didn't answer, but I heard her mutter "Murphy's Law". Alright, fair enough, point to the cyclebot.

Ratchet got his medical kit in case the possible Autobot were injured and needed tending to, while the rest of Team Prime walked into the groundbridge to the location supplied in the image. The medic had told me to stay behind simply because he didn't want me to put too much strain on my wing, even though it was essentially healed. I grudgingly accepted his cautioned reasoning and stayed at base with the kids as well as Bulkhead, who was still recovering from his near-paralysis. We didn't have to wait long.

Turned out, it _was_ a new 'Bot. The new comer's paint job consisted of mainly white with blue and yellow trimming, along with orange and yellow 38's on his doorwings.. He looked young too, possibly even younger than 'Bee. Miko instantly set to work, spitting out questions and leaving the poor guy bewildered.

"So…these are the life forms we're supposed to protect? …Are they all like this?" His voice confirmed how young he was; at a guess, somewhere between 18 to 20 in human years. He started turning to address Ratchet, but his gaze stopped dead on noticing me. The new comer walked forward and offered a hand in greeting.

"Hi! I'm Smokescreen. Who're you?" He introduced himself cheerfully.

My wings drooped and I shifted my gaze to the floor out of shyness. _What's the matter with you? Can't you say hi back to him without looking like a complete idiot?_ I scolded myself. I swallowed my shyness and looked back up.

"Um…I'm Zodiac…but everyone here calls me Zee for short…" My voice was a mere whisper when I spoke, but thankfully he heard me.

"'Zodiac', huh? Sure suits your paint job, doesn't it?" Smokescreen laughed. I was still a little hesitant to talk to him and started fiddling with my port primary feathers, a nervous tick I'd developed over the years. The bad part was, that wing just so happened to be my injured one (I'd kept both of my wings neatly folded behind my back so as not to startle him or anything, but fate decided to be _extremely_ unkind to me at this moment).

The newbie gave an expressive grimace at seeing the unsightly scar in the middle of my left wing. "Wow, what the heck happened to you?" I was somewhat surprised he didn't freak over my wings; he seemed far more concerned about the scar, not my unusual appearance.

"Um, yeah about that-long story short, big rock which just so happened to be sharp on one end fell on me; well more like someone made it fall after setting a bomb on a cliff off, but yeah." I clarified for him.

"Well why don't you just buff it out? That should work."

Almost no one knew this, so I decided to put it out there just because. "Because my wings are really sensitive and…buffers tickle at lot." I regretted saying that the moment it came out. Smokescreen grinned, jumped forward and poked one of my wings, making me let out a high-pitched squeak and hop back a few steps, and causing Raf and Miko to giggle at my reaction.

"Okay, knock it off; how'd you end up in a Decepticon escape pod, newbie?" I huffed in mock annoyance.

Smokescreen went on to explain how he'd ended up inside the pod; how he had been captured and tossed aboard a prison ship while defending the Hall of Records, but managed to elude one of the guards and get out and finally end up on Earth. Man, Decepticon prison guards must be grossly over confident or just plain dumb.

"Huh, ok then. Nice job on getting outta there. But one part of your story puzzles me. You're positive the 'Cons flanked you from behind and knocked you out? If they did, how the hell did they get in to begin with?" I inquired, since that part seemed a little "off" to me.

"Brawl or some other heavy hitter must've blasted a hole around the back of the building. That's probably what happened." He answered. I was about to ask another question when Optimus intervened with one of his own. I decided to leave and let everyone talk to the new guy, so I went up to the top of the mesa to get some air.

Even being so far from home, I could appreciate the beauty of a desert sunset. The sky surrounding the setting sun was a myriad of blues, purples, oranges, golds, and pinks. I could just spot the planet Venus rising, a tiny speck of white in the rich colors. It was too light out to do some serious star gazing-that would have to wait till later-so I just sat at the edge of the mesa and looked out, listening to the sounds of the desert.

I was so focused on listening to the howl of a coyote that I didn't hear the sound of footsteps approach from behind; too light to be Optimus, Bulkhead, or Ratchet, but too heavy to Bumblebee, Arcee, or any of the children. That only left one option: Smokescreen. I assumed that he'd come up here to ask questions, but it turned out I was wrong.

"Ratchet told me to come check on you. What was that weird noise I heard when I came up?" Alright yes, this was a question, but he didn't want information about me. Then he said something that I didn't expect. "When you left to come up here, your faceplates looked redder than a 'Con's optics. What was that all about?" He took a sitting position beside me while he asked this.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye-_optic_-in surprise. My face had been red? I decided to answer his questions one at a time.

"Your first question-about that noise- that was the howl of a coyote, an animal native to this planet. As to your second, I didn't even know it was red. I'm shy around strangers and new comers yes, but that's never happened before. So I can't answer that convincingly. But I don't think you came up here to chit chat. Ratchet told you to tell me something, yes?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. He told me I need to get a vehicle mode and he said you could tag along, since it's a non-combat task. You up for it?"

"Sure. I'm guessing you already have one picked out thanks to the wonderful device called the Internet?" I laughed.

"Yep! Something called a 'Lotus Exige'. It looks awesome!" the newbie confirmed.

I honestly had no idea what this car was, but if he liked it, who am I to question his choice?

The newbie's desired alt mode turned out to be a high performance race car located on-you guessed it-a race track. After scanning it, he transformed into it and ran a few circles around me to test his new disguise out. We asked the medic for a 'bridge back to base, which was promptly supplied, and walked in, only to see the other 'Bots missing.

"Where'd everyone go?" I demanded. It wasn't Ratchet who tipped me off, however. It was a comm. link from Optimus. A loud crashing sound was heard before he spoke, causing the medic to inquire if something were wrong.

[Starscream has come for the Red Energon, and I fear he will not be deterred in his quest.]

_Red Energon?...Never mind, I'll ask later _I thought.

"Starscream? I heard stories about that stiletto-heeled creep back on Cybertron! Send me in, Doc!" Smokescreen requested. I stifled a snort of laughter at the newbie's description of the lanky grey Seeker.

"When Optimus requires back up he will ask for it." Ratchet answered curtly.

"Aw, come on! I got my V-mode and everything!" the newbie whined in protest.

"Nyep-ep! What part of 'further training' did you _not_ understand?" the medic snapped before turning back to the console. Smokescreen hung his head in defeat before I noticed his optics glimmer and he walked off to the storage vaults. What was he doing? He had some sort of idea in his head, so I quietly followed him.

He stopped in front of the vault containing the phase shifter. I decided to blow cover and approach him.

"What're doing?" I asked. I knew that Starscream had made off with the Apex Armor, but how did the phase shifter fit into the rookie's plan?

"Borrowing the phase shifter. Come on, I think I heard Ratchet call for me. Maybe he changed his mind." He grabbed the shifter off its stand and made his way back to the command center.

Ratchet apparently had called for him and opened a groundbridge to the Prime's current position.

"Can I come too? Please?" I begged. The medic completely ignored me, so I was unsure if that signaled a "yes" or a "no". I went with "yes" and followed Smokescreen, who had transformed into vehicle mode, into the portal.

The first sight that met us upon exiting was Starscream encased in the Armor, lifting the leg of a crane to try and topple the three 'Bots on top of it. The ex-Decepticon dropped the leg with a thud on noticing the two of us storm out of the portal.

"So, the Autobots have a new recruit." He sneered.

"And you must be Starscream. I thought you'd be taller." Smokescreen taunted.

"Ooooh! Burned Screamy! Burned!" I laughed. The rookie and I high fived at the successful taunt. Starscream would now be more focused on avenging his pride than on strategy.

"Smokescreen, Zodiac, stand down! You are no match for the Apex Armor!" Prime ordered.

The grey Seeker, on hearing the newbie's name, sneered again. "Any last words _Smokescreen?_"

Smokescreen grinned in answer. "Just four: _Kiss your armor goodbye!_" He activated the phase shifter on his wrist and ran right for the grey Seeker, landing a solid roundhouse kick to his face which phased Starscream right out of the Armor, leaving it empty and harmless. Starscream was tossed back from the blow and landed on his behind, stunned.

"Now that was a plan!" Smokescreen cheered as the Armor fell forward from its own weight. I couldn't help myself and whooped as well. _That's_ why he wanted the shifter, to get the user out of it without risking getting pummeled to death trying to weaken it.

Starscream, after recovering from the shock of being bested so easily, fired off one of his missiles at the crane, destroying the glowing red object inside and giving him time to escape. Thankfully none of the debris fell on me, but the Red Energon was now destroyed and useless. You win some you lose some, I suppose. Then again, the Seeker had stupidly left the Apex Armour behind, so it wasn't so bad.

When everyone returned to base, Team Prime formally welcomed the new recruit onto the team. I made up for earlier and warmly shook his hand, causing him to grin happily. My shyness around him had all but vanished and was replaced by friendliness towards him. Sure he was little hot-headed and over eager, but he'd proven to be a quick study, using the enemy's own strength against him. A job well done, indeed.


	12. Chapter 12: Death from Above

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 12

A few hours later the sun had set after a busy day and the moon was rising, washing the rusty dunes around Jasper with liquid silver, giving the desert a dreamy, lucid feel. I was still wide awake after everyone had retired for the night, my mind being supercharged with dream energy, which meant I was going to have a lot of trouble sleeping tonight. Hooray for insomnia. I decided to take advantage of the clear skies and go up top to star gaze for a while, having nothing better to do. Star gazing always helped soothe my mind when nothing else could.

I may not enjoy staying up all night, but it was really beautiful out, so I let myself enjoy the stellar scenery. Mars and Jupiter were plainly visible along with a large swath of stars-the humans' home galaxy they called the Milky Way- cutting across the sky. Multiple constellations were up and rising, though a few were so faint as to be hardly there. Once again, I was so intent on watching the sky, hoping for a meteor (a shooting star as the humans call it), that I didn't notice a familiar form step out of the lift shaft and walk forward.

"What're you still doing up?" a sleepy sounding Smokescreen asked.

I jumped in spite myself. "I could ask the same of you." I retorted calmly. "Why'd you come up here?"

"I searched the entire base for you and couldn't find you, so I figured you'd be up here." He explained.

"Why were you looking for me? Is something wrong?" I asked. He averted his gaze and shuffled one of his pedes awkwardly.

"Yes….no…maybe. I don't know. I guess I just wanted to know what you were doing up here this late at night." He stammered. What was making him so anxious?

"What I'm doing is amateur astronomy-star gazing. And since you probably won't go back in till I do, you might as well join." I offered. "Do you know a lot about this star system?"

Smokescreen gave a sheepish smile and said he knew next to nothing. Looks like I had my work cut out for me.

"Well then. What do you wanna learn first?"

The little impromptu astronomy lesson went on for about an hour or two, with me explaining the names and such of the various planets and nearby stars nearest to the Earth system. Human constellations and their strange backstories and myths surrounding them fascinated him, especially the 12 zodiac symbols. I was explaining the backstory of the symbol I was born under, Sagittarius, when I noticed his optics getting heavy.

"You're tired; go and get some sleep, rookie. I'll be fine. I may be up here for a while-at least until I pass out from exhaustion." I said quietly. He nodded in agreement and walked back to the lift, though in my opinion it was more like stumbling. Poor guy looked ready to just keel over and sleep for the next eight hours. If only the same were true for me.

"You're not at all what I expected in a Knight, Zodiac." He said as the lift lowered back into the silo.

I couldn't believe what he'd said. Did he just compliment me? Why? Before I could begin to answer my first question, a weird burning sensation began spreading over my entire frame. I felt like I was surrounded in fire, but it wasn't a painful burning-it felt more akin to the feeling one got when one walked into Hearthfire Hall, Hestia's main temple back home, like someone was hugging you and watching out for you, even when no one was actually there. Eventually, the sensation lulled me into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up, I was no longer outside; someone had moved me back inside the silo and gently propped me up against a corner wall. I could faintly hear rain pattering outside, so whoever had moved me had done me a favor. Miko, Ratchet, and Smokescreen were trying to cheer Bulkhead up but to no avail. Jack had his cell phone on speaker and was talking with Raf, who, by the way, was grounded for misplacing some homework and blowing a few tests. Poor kid.

"Translation: A minus instead of A." Miko quipped. Obviously tact wasn't a word in her vocabulary. The occupants of the room finally noticed I was awake and waved a hello.

I got to my feet and looked around. "Quick question that I'm hoping one of you can answer: Who moved me inside?"

"Optimus found you up there earlier this morning and brought you inside so you wouldn't get drenched." Ratchet answered.

"Good; now that you're awake I'll call the others in. We have a problem." Fowler stated. When had he gotten here?

It only took a few minutes to gather everyone into the command center. The Agent started the debriefing without further ado.

"At 16:30 hours a satellite was stolen from a high security military vault. Surveillance shows the Decepticon known as Breakdown at the scene." Fowler said. The security feed cut to the entrance of the building. "It looks like Breakdown entered the facility in vehicle mode, with _someone_ behind the wheel."

"A Decepticon paired with a human?" the medic scoffed.

"And I have a pretty good idea who. The stolen satellite was Project Damocles." The Agent's face turned grim.

"Invented by Silas." Prime finished.

"I guess the former Colonel Bishop wanted it back." Fowler added. Bumblebee bweeped a few times in confusion.

"Yeah, I thought Silas was paste." I translated.

"So did I." The Agent agreed.

"Agent Fowler, even if he were alive, are you suggesting that Silas has aligned MECH with the Decepticons? I highly doubt that Megatron would _entertain _such an idea!" Ratchet said.

"Why not? The human/'Bot alliance works for us." Jack spoke up, with Miko nodding in agreement.

"Most of the time." Arcee muttered.

"What exactly _is _Project Damocles?" I asked Fowler.

"Damocles is a particle beam cannon so powerful it can slice up the Pentagon like a birthday cake, or give everyone on Mount Rushmore a mohawk-all from a satellite in orbit. It's the work of a madman and in Megatron's hands…" He trailed off and let me fill in the blanks.

"Soooo….we're screwed if he gets the thing working. With someone like Soundwave, hacking the thing won't be a much of a challenge for 'em." I commented dryly. Fowler had a trick up his sleve, however.

"True enough. While the 'Cons may have the _satellite_, they can't use it without the interface code. The only existing copy is stored on a secure sever at headquarters in Colorado."

"Colorado huh? I know someone there who may be willing to help. You guys ever met a Centaur before?" I asked.

Ratchet 'bridged us to a remote area in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. The headquarters Fowler mentioned were nearby thankfully, so we wouldn't have to walk very far to get there. I knew the Centaur I was looking for lived in a cave close to where we were, but where exactly I'd almost forgotten. Aello laughingly refreshed my memory for me. The cave was about a hundred meters from where we 'bridged in. I motioned the others to follow me at a discreet distance. I didn't know how the Centaur would react to the 'Bots, so better safe than sorry.

The cave had an overhang of vines and bushes so that any humans hiking wouldn't notice it very easily. I pushed the vines aside and walked in. A voice from shadows spoke and spooked me.

"Ah, a Spiral Knight. What is it you need of me Zodiac?" The voice was polite sounding and regal.

"Would you mind if my friends came in? They won't be any trouble, I assure you." I promised.

"Of course. Who are these friends of yours?" it asked.

I activated my comm. link and called them. [It's cool, you can come in. But stay in vehicle mode, you probably won't all fit in here if you don't. The cave is bigger on the inside, but not as big as the silo.] The sounds of multiple high performance engines powering up was heard and a posse of multicolored cars drove in single file and parked in a semi-circle around my feet. The Centaur stepped forward to introduce himself, melting out of the shadows and revealing himself. The creature's body was that of a black Arabian stallion, but where his head was supposed to be was the upper body of an adult human in combat armor.

"Guys, meet Krasys, the son of Chiron." I introduced him. "He's helped the Knights in the past, so I don't doubt that he'll help the Autobots." I turned to the centaur. "Krasys, the Autobots are a group of freedom fighters from Cybertron and are attempting to keep their enemies from attacking Earth 24/7 with a satellite designed by a former Army Colonel whom we thought was dead. Can you help?"

"Freedom fighters, you say? Then I will be more than happy to assist them. Let me get my equipment and I will meet you outside." Krasys cantered back into the depths of the cave to gather his gear. The 'Bots wheeled around and drove out with me following behind. Krasys didn't keep up waiting for long. He emerged from the cave adorned in full battle regalia-a shotgun of Celestian make slung over his shoulder, studded leather armor covering his body and a sleek steel war helm over his head.

"Lead the way and I shall follow." He stated.

Team Prime drove at near breakneck pace up the mountain road to the facility, Krasys jumping from ledge to ledge like some mutant mountain goat, and I flew long looping circles over all of them, head on the swivel for danger. Ah, it felt so good to be airborne again. Upon reaching the facility, I patiently waited for the others to catch up to me, which they did after only a few minutes.

The place itself looked utterly deserted. That was weird. Fowler said this place had numerous security personnel on site, so where the heck were they? My question was answered instantly when dozens of Eradicon drones began firing at us. The 'Cons had got here first. Joy. Everyone hastily took cover behind a few large boulders that were nearby, Arcee and Bumblebee behind one, Optimus and Krasys behind another, and me and Smokescreen behind a third.

"The Decepticons have preceded us! We must secure the facility!" Prime ordered. The Autobots all charged forward on cue. Krasys galloped in as well, firing the shotgun and felling at least three drones. I took off again and tried to get the Eradicons' attention, shouting taunts at them, but they seemed far more focused on the strange new creature who had taken out, now six, of their brethren. Smokescreen was practically a blur of movement, killing two drones with well-placed head shots. One nearby 'Con tackled him to the ground, but ended up with metal fists to his face as the rookie tried to knock him out. Seeing my taunting was useless, I dove down and stabbed another drone who was trying to sneak up on him. I looked up and saw a strange orange beam descending from sky. In horror, I saw that the beam was aimed right at the newbie.

"SMOKESCREEN GET OUT OF THERE! NOW!" Krasys shouted. He didn't need any encouragement and nimbly jumped out of the way just in time for the beam to hit the unconscious Eradicon, charring him to a crisp and leaving a large, smoking hole in his chest.

"Whoa…" was all Smokescreen could manage at seeing what could've been him. I was open mouthed as well. One hit from Damocles could _kill_ a Cybertronian? That craft had to be stopped. Another beam from the satellite's cannon rained down towards the assembled Autobots. Time to move.

Prime gave the order to fall back and everyone gladly followed it, not wanting to end up like the unfortunate Eradicon (I honestly hoped that wasn't Simon). There was no way we could take the thing down on our own and we couldn't play defense forever.

[Ratchet we need assistance! The 'Cons are going all trigger happy with Damocles! Can you remotely disable the blasted thing with Fowler's help?!] I shouted into my comm. link.

[On a human based computer network? Without _my_ back up? Without _Rafael_?!] A horrified sounding medic gasped back.

[I'll 'bridge to Raf's place with Jack and Miko. Just keep tabs on the team Doc.] Fowler answered. Now we just had to play a massive game of keep away with a remote death ray in space. Fun….

"Autobots, we must draw its fire to distract from Rafael's efforts." Prime said. Another beam was headed down at us.

Krasys went wide-eyed. "Somehow I do not think that will be a problem, Optimus." The centaur started galloping as fast as he could while the 'Bots went into vehicle form to try and out run the beam. Everyone split in different directions; there was no way it could hit all of us at once. The cannon stopped firing for a few second, no doubt in order to recharge and re-arm itself.

"Clear shot! I'm goin' in!" Smokescreen shouted.

"Don't be a fool _mikrá fo̱tiá_! They're using the satellite to guard the mainframe!" I warned. He didn't listen and shot forward, only for Damocles to fire on him and block his path, causing him to spin out of control and screech to a stop.

"Scratch that." He agreed and drove off again to keep the craft busy until Raf could shut it down for good. Optimus meanwhile had received some sort of communication from Ratchet; Bulkhead needed help.

"Smokescreen, Zodiac, assist Bulkhead! Breakdown just attempted to attack Rafael!"

"On it!" we agreed, and roared into a groundbridge supplied by Ratchet to find ourselves in Jasper's residential area, right next to the freeway…where Bulkhead and Breakdown were sparring. We looked at each other, nodded silently and charged forward. I was the faster one and got there first, kicking the 'Con right in the face and sending him sprawling on the ground. He was down, but not out. The rookie had helped the green mech back to his feet, so now it was three against one.

"Let's finish this, fellas!" I said. Both of them took up positions on either side of Breakdown and proceeded to lay the smack down on him, never giving him enough time to recover, while I slashed at him every chance I got. Realizing he was beaten and outnumbered, the 'Con fired a rocket at the three of us and bade a hasty retreat back to the _Nemesis_ through a groundbridge.

"Woohoo! That's right, run! Suck it you big pansy!" I cheered. We looked up to see what remained of Damocles-a chunk of metal burning in the upper atmosphere.

"Looks like someone's big plan just burned up in re-entry." Bulkhead said with a grin. The three of us high-fived (I had to jump to reach, but they didn't mind) in victory.

"Oh and for the record, I studied every one of the Wreckers' battles." Smokescreen added.

"There's hope for you yet…newbie." I laughed and socked his knee playfully.

Author's Note: mikrá fo̱tiá means "young fire" in Greek. Fitting nick-name for our resident rookie, don'tcha think?


	13. Chapter 13: The Sword in the Stone

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 13

Smokescreen, Bumblebee and I were picked for routine patrol the next day-I'd tagged along after copying Arcee's vehicle form, plus her hologram generator-and the three of us were cruising along at a swift 65 miles an hour, tracking an Energon signal the scout had picked up earlier. We were all jacked into the same comm. frequency and were chatting together while we drove.

[Energon signal's gettin' stronger; about five clicks due north] the rookie announced, and proceeded to floor the accelerator. 'Bee beeped at him to slow down, explaining there was a speed limit, even on open highways.

[What do ya mean 'speed limit'? I have a gauge in here that goes to _150_. If the humans who built my vehicle form didn't want it to go that fast, they shouldn't have given me the option!] He laughed and sped up even more. He was stupidly driving on the wrong side of the road when a battered, dusty SUV appeared out of nowhere. Smokescreen yelped and swerved, spinning a tight circle and narrowly avoiding the head on collision. He kept still and hoped the driver would keep going, but no such luck for him. The scout and I were pretty far back still, but I saw the driver get out and angrily slam the door behind him. For some reason the guy had a crowbar with him (honestly, who keeps a crowbar in their car?!) and smacked it into his palm a few times. I was still jacked into the rookie's comm. frequency and heard what the random driver was saying.

"Hey! Indie 500! When I'm through with you, you're gonna need more than a pit crew to put you back together!" the guy snarled. This "routine patrol" was turning into a routine bad day. Then Smokescreen did the _one thing_ he _wasn't_ supposed to do in situations like this.

He dropped his cover.

I had to resist the urge to telepathically smack him across the face as he leaned forward and retorted to the threat. The angry driver dropped his crowbar and backed up in alarm at the giant metal alien in front of him. Bumblebee and I finally caught up and the scout roughly shoved his teammate aside, beeping angrily and telling him not to hurt the human. I rolled up as well and dropped my cover (cover dropping party for the win…not) and stood between the driver and the two mechs.

The rookie laughed at his teammate's anger. "Relax, Bumblebee! I'm just messin' around!"

"Wha..what the…." The human stammered, relieved about not being squashed but confused at the same time. I walked over to try and calm him down while the two mechs argued with each other over the newbie's blunder. The human snapped a picture of the two out of instinct, much to the dismay of 'Bee.

"Hey, sorry about him nearly running you off the road. He's new around here and I don't think anyone has taught him about traffic laws as of yet. He's the equivalent of a teenager by their standards." I apologized. "What's your name?

"Uh…Dave. Why can't the yellow one talk? All I hear is beeps and such." He asked. "What the heck ARE you guys? Do you three have names as well?"

"I'll answer your last question first. I'm Zodiac, mister hothead over there-" I jerked a finger in the direction of the rookie "-is Smokescreen, the yellow and black one who's beeping is Bumblebee. The reason he can't talk is because his voice box was torn out a long time ago, he's lucky that it got repaired even slightly. As to what we are, I'll put it to you plain and simple: we're aliens. I'll let you keep the picture, just don't go posting it on the web or anything, 'kay? We'll be on our way now and don't worry his leader and probably the medic will give him a good scolding over this." I motioned for the others to transform and follow and we left the human standing in the middle of the road with his mouth open. I just hoped he would keep his word and not post the picture.

"…Found it! Ol' road rage didn't waste any time posting your mug shots. Raf'll scrub this as soon as he gets back from house hunting." Jack said. Damnit Dave! I told him not to! Just goes to show you shouldn't place your trust in someone you don't know.

"Is _this_ what you learned while serving Alpha Trion?! I highly doubt he would have condoned such irresponsible behavior!" Ratchet fumed. He was practically foaming at the mouth he was so angry. Smokescreen was immediately contrite and offered profuse apologies for his earlier actions, promising that it wouldn't happen again. Optimus interjected and said it wasn't solely the rookie's fault-they were all at fault.

"How?! We weren't even there!" Bulkhead argued. "Well, 'Bee was." The scout elbowed him in hard in the gut to get to him keep quiet.

"Our attention has been so focused on preventing crises that we have over looked the simple matters-such as teaching our new recruit how to best function on this planet. It is an oversight that must be corrected." I had to agree with the Prime's reasoning. He went on and said that Smokescreen would need a human teacher.

"Oh puh-leez. Isn't have _three_ humans here _enough_?!" Ratchet thought aloud. The looks that everyone gave him were utterly _priceless_; even Optimus looked slightly shocked. I could do little except face-palm and shake my head.

"Dude, you don't say that when there's a human standing right behind you. Not nice." I scolded. The medic rolled his optics and gave an annoyed exvent before turning back to his computer.

"I was considering one already among us." Prime corrected, turning to face the eldest human in the group.

"Oh! Uh…sure! Yeah, I can teach him the ropes." Jack stuttered. "You wanna come too, Zee?" he asked, to which I nodded happily and switched into vehicle mode. The rookie looked confused and a little nervous, but Bulkhead told him it was nothing, saying that everyone had put in curbside duty. "Part of the gig!" The green Wrecker laughed.

"Then let's go for a drive 'teach'." Smokescreen said before dropping down and transforming as well. Jack climbed in and he took off in a squeal of tires down the tunnel, with me following a short distance behind him.

Japser was judged as the best place to start driver's ed. for the newbie. He got the whole "green for go" thing pretty easily, but decided to screw off as a yellow light blinked on the traffic light, accelerating to nearly 90 miles per hour before screeching to a stop mere inches from the intersection (I'd secretly hacked into his radio and listened to the two of them talk, Jack telling him that that wasn't funny).

A new car (and I use the term "new" loosely) with a black paint job and orange and yellow flames on the hood rolled up right next to them. I saw Jack hunch down and roll up the driver's side window. The driver of the other car was a gangly, red haired teen with a green leather jacket and white undershirt. I got the feeling that this was the resident bully of the town-and I know from personal experience that bullying is the worst thing ever created-when the ginger teen tossed a burger at the driver's side window, the burger splatting on the glass before sliding off. The bully took off at that, running the red light that the three of us were waiting at. I could feel waves of anger roll of the white racecar as he took off at the green light. His teacher told him to let it go and forget about it.

[Seriously? Let it go? Where's your self-respect? We gotta stand up for ourselves!] Smokescreen protested.

[We also have to follow Optimus's rule. It's not just about protecting humans-you can't harm 'em either.] Jack responded coolly. He was probably used to stuff like this happening.

[Who said anything about 'harming'?] The racecar hinted impishly. Oh no…

The prank having succeeded to a marvel, with the jerk's (Vince's) car covered in hamburgers and Jack taking a picture of it on his phone, they went silent as they internally reveled on the way back to base. The only reason I didn't stop them is because I personally loathe bullies. Back home I'd always been teased about my height, my shy and reclusive nature, and my geekyness, so I let them get away with it. We all three drove into the base and broke out laughing like idiots. Arcee didn't look happy, but she didn't look angry either, more…disappointed when her partner showed her the image.

"Lemme get this straight: You taught Smokescreen everything he never needed to know about fast food?"

"He passed drivers ed.! Work hard, play hard!" I chirped back at her.

"Yeah! No humans were harmed in the making of these photos." The rookie reassured her as he strolled by. The stain was still on his window, so Jack and I decided he needed a good scrubbing.

We found an empty storage vault deep within the silo, a long hose rolled up in a corner and a nozzle on the wall. The black haired teen had filled a bucket he had located and filled it with soapy water while I'd conjured up a car sponge from thin air (gotta love magic). I was too big to help out even thought I was the smallest bot on the team, so I leaned against the wall and listened to the two boys talk with each other. If I'd switched back to my real form to help, I would be virtually invisible to, well, everyone unless my aura were melded to someone else's. I don't care who you are, a floating sponge is creepy no matter how you spin it.

It only took a few short minutes to scrub the tomato stain of the racecar's window and the three of us made our way back to the command center. Instead of the medic at the console, it was Optimus, who was busily typing away and decoding more of the Iacon database that was snatched from the _Nemesis_ a while back. Frantic beeping sounded from the console, momentarily puzzling him since it was an Iacon homing beacon, located somewhere in the cloud forests of East Asia.

"Don't think you'll have to finish decoding the coordinates pal. Looks like your job just got a little easier. All you have to do is go grab it before the 'Cons do." I said. "Mind if I come?"

"I need you to stay here, Zodiac, in case this turns out to be trick to lure us astray. Smokescreen will stay as well. "

"Awww!" We whined. "Guess that means more 'training' for you, huh Smoke?" I winked. What I was really referring to was that Jack, Smoke, and I had planned to prank Vince again later.

After we pranked the bully a second time, we returned back to base to find Ratchet in a state best described as a "controlled panic". The comm. channel he had open to the other 'Bots was emitting static, indicating the signal was being blocked or jammed.

"What wrong, Doctor?" I asked.

"Our scanners picked up a second Iacon beacon…but Optimus and the rest of the team aren't answering." He explained. So it had been a trap. Go figure.

"Well why don't you 'bridge over there yourself and tell them if the comm. links aren't working?"

"I am going to do that, but we need another group to investigate the second beacon. That would be you and Smokescreen."

The two of us eyed Jack and, while the medic's back was turned, let him follow us through the supplied portal. As soon as we were through, the human realized what he'd done.

"I just pulled a Miko, didn't I?" Jack muttered.

"Let's go grab a relic!" The rookie and I broke into a run while Jack sprinted to keep up. There was a thoughtfully placed wall of boulders which provided perfect cover as well as a perfect view of the relic, wedged into the side of a small mountain.

"Whoa…it's a _sword_." The black haired teen whispered.

"Not just any sword. That looks like-"Smokescreen started.

"The Star Saber, a legendary weapon forged by Solus Prime and enchanted by Horus, the Spiral Knight leader." I finished. "That thing can wield the untapped power of the Matrix, meaning only a Prime or the being that enchanted it can use it."

"I'll get it!" The newbie volunteered, but I held him back.

"Not a good idea _mikrá fo̱tiá_." I cautioned.

"Why?"

"Because Megatron's here too." His eyed widened on hearing that.

"The dark lord himself? He won't know what hit him!"

"_No_, let me see if I can cause a distraction _first_, then you can go in and pick some of the drones off. Jack, you stay here and out of sight." I ordered. I switched back to my real form, making the human look around to try and find me. Smokescreen eyed him curiously.

"Wait, you can't see her?"

Hold on, he could see me?! How!?

"Look I'll explain later with Ratchet's help, but right now I need to distract the grunts." I told him. He gave in at that and stayed put with Jack.

It was pretty easy to distract a fair number of Insecticon workers and Vehicon and Eradicon drones. All I had to do was generate an earthquake on the far side of the mountain and they came running, flicking their guns around to try and find the cause of the disruption, only to find that no one was there. I ducked and wove through them and darted back behind cover and switched back to Cybertronian form beside Jack…but Smokescreen had vanished. I spotted him making a mad dash for the Saber, only to be effortlessly taken down by Megatron, who hadn't followed his troops to check out the disturbance I'd caused.

The idiot. Did I really have to do _everything_ myself?

I broke into a sprint and tackled one of the drones who had surrounded the rookie, making the Decepticon warlord whirl around and fire at me at near point blank range. The shot from his arm cannon sent me sprawling and I spit out a few colorful swears as I tried to get back up, only for Megatron to firmly plant one of his pedes on my chest to keep me from rising.

"Not so fleet footed as you used to be, eh little one?" He snarled.

"I'm plenty fast, you pasty faced patsy! Let me up and fight me like a real gladiator!" I spat back at him. This only made him move his pede up to my neck and put even more pressure on it, making me choke and gag for air.

"Leave her alone!" Smokescreen yelled. The former gladiator turned his attention back to the newbie and stalked over to him, leaving me to gasp and recover.

"What is your name, Autobot?"

The rookie offered a sly smile. "Why? Who wants to know?" he asked innocently. He was buying time. Smart!

Megatron raised a hand to swat him but never got the chance. Team Prime stormed forward; Optimus bolting headlong for the weapon that was lodged in the stone. There was a slight hitch to his plan however. The Decepticons had attached the large stone to a tow cable hooked up the warship, and the stone was now dangling in midair and the Prime couldn't fly.

I had to give the big bot credit for improvising. The stone was hanging near a cliff escarpment and he started scaling it with no difficulty at all. Some of the moves he pulled off would have made any die-hard parkour fanatic turn green with envy.

"Keep Prime from the relic!" Megatron barked. A few Vehicons would had stayed took off after Optimus with their leader following in hot pursuit.

I managed to stagger back to my feet and pull out my sword, but one Eradicon trooper hefted his gun and pointed it directly at me. I was hurt and exhausted; there was no way I could dodge in time if he fired.

I never had to.

A blue energy bullet hit the trooper square in the chest and sent him flying back. I looked to see who had fired it and was met with a cheeky grin.

"I got your back." Smokescreen reassured me.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks. Now let's go help the others."

Getting rid of the non-flying 'Cons was a piece of cake. Those guys were pitiful fighters and couldn't shoot straight to save their lives. Megatron and his little posse were still giving chase and firing round after round at the semi-truck, but like I said, Vehicons aren't really the best shots. Nor are they the brightest at anticipating. The top of the escarpment had a perfect, natural made ramp and Optimus went straight for it, launching himself into the air and right for the sword. Megatron fired off one more shot and hit the flying truck, sending him spinning, but the Prime managed to re-orient himself and latch onto the Saber's hilt, gripping it like a vise. The blade responded instantly, lighting up and glowing like the fourth of July and slipping out of its rocky scabbard, weapon and holder plummeting to the ground and landing safely (even though it was, at a guess, over 150 feet in the air, but who's really keeping track of that?).

Prime wrenched the sword out of the ground and it was then I realized just how freaking _huge_ the sword was; almost as long as he was tall! Much to everyone's horror, the warship detached the massive boulder it was holding -since it was of no use to them now- and it rolled right for Optimus, who seemed totally oblivious of this.

"Move big guy! NOW!" I screamed. Right before it flattened him though, he turned and cleaved upward, splitting the rock in two right down the middle, and leaving him safe and unharmed as the two slabs rolled past him. The entire team had a "deer-in-headlights" look as they slowly processed what their leader had just done.

He'd cut a mountain in half. With a sword. Holy. Freaking. Hell. Even MY sword wasn't that powerful. Leave it to Horus to enchant a super weapon and make it even stronger.

The 'Bot looked up at the looming form of the Nemesis and ,much to my amusement, winked at the scanners that were no doubt relaying live video feed of what was happening on the ground. He then took a running start a swung to sword in an arc, a large wave of blue energy coming out of the blade and slamming into the main back thrusters of the warship. The ship survived, but no doubt the crew of it was terrified out of their wits.

On that high note, we all groundbridged back to base.

Arcee was furious; not just furious. _Livid_. She chewed me and Smokescreen out on letting Jack come along into a potential combat scenario and then sent him home. Having ranted to her content, she stormed off to her quarters.

"Wow, and my sister says _I_ have a temper." I muttered. "Guess now is the perfect moment for me to explain that whole 'why-can-I-see-you-in-Empyrean-form-and-not-Jack' thing to you. Because really, I have no idea why you could, but I can guess. Real quick question before I start my lecture thing though. Did anyone get a weird burning sensation in their chests a while back?"

The Autobots cast puzzled glances at each and shook their heads….except for one.

Smokescreen raised a hesitant hand. "I-I did. Why?"

Oh wow. It just HAD to be him, didn't it? Not that I'm complaining, of course.

"Ok now I'll start. While Cybertronians have spark-bonding, Spiral beings-like me- have aura bonding, which produces pretty much the same effect but without some of the drawbacks that the former bond produces. For example: If one member of a spark-bonded pair offlines, the other, unless they have immense will power, soon follows due to their life frequencies being synchronized and such. That doesn't happen with aura bonding because the auras don't synchronize; all they do is meld with each other and intermix. It does keep the other _plus_ side effects of a spark-bond however-such as having an innate sense of where the other member is, the ability to hear and communicate with each other via telepathy, and knowing if the other is in any kind of physical, emotional, or mental stress. The only problem? The two have to be in proximity to each other for the melding to happen and with Aello and Ratchet's aid, I found out that neither Smokescreen nor I were near each other when it happened. I was up top and he was inside the base in recharge, so I don't have a clue how this happened in the first place." I finished the monologue with a deep breath. Everyone in the room was staring at me in a weird, glassy-eyed manner as they took in what I was saying. The medic was the first to remember how to talk.

"No, no, and no! Optimus has told me how powerful a Knight's aura is; there is no conceivable way for Smokescreen to have even _survived_ the melding! It's like putting a 12 watt light bulb next to a blue giant star-the star totally engulfs the bulb! They don't equal each other in terms of energy output."

"I thought that over for some time, Doc. I came up with dozens of ways for this result to have occurred, but none of them seemed feasible. The only one I've come up with that makes any sense at all...is that the newbie has a dormant persona that temporarily woke up for a short time-no doubt using my aura as a power source-and equalized his aura, or at least amped it up to a safe level, before falling back into its slumbering state." I responded. "Relating to that fact, I had Aello run a few magic scans of all of you, and it turns out that _all_ of you have dormant personas; they just need to be woken up by someone of the same magic type as them."

"Can you give an example of that? Not all of us are fluent in magic-babble." Bulkhead requested.

"Sure I can! Take Ratchet for an example: He's a medic, meaning he and his persona have an affinity with Life magic, better known as Theurgy." I answered.

"So what type is the kid?"

"You know how I said 'burning sensation'? That should give you an extremely obvious hint: Whatever his persona is, it has an affinity with Fire magic, better known as Pyromancy."

The Prime finally butted in. "When we last met before the war, you told me it was impossible for a Cybertronian to host a persona."

"That's what I thought too. But I also found out this; _only the Autobots can host personas!_ The Decepticons _can't_! The only way for them to get one is to force one inside them, and personas are good by nature, even the Death types, so they won't take very kindly to that. I guess it's your planet's way of giving you guys an edge during the war." I replied.

The moment I'd finished talking, the Saber starting humming and glowing, like it wanted to tell its holder something. I sort of remembered Horus putting in some kind of communication enchantment on it, but I had no idea that it actually, you know, _worked_. Even though I wasn't holding the sword, a familiar presence emanated from it, one I'd almost forgotten about over the years.

Alpha Trion. He was one of the Thirteen, but you'd never know it simply by looking at him. He just looked like a very old bot, nothing startling in way of appearance. I had no idea what he was telling his former pupil, but it must have been big, because the Prime's optics went wide. The communication severed abruptly and the blade stopped glowing; the big guy must've been in some kind of trace-like state because, if not for Ratchet steadying him, he would toppled forward and hit the floor face first.

"It is paramount that we find and secure the final four Iacon Relics: The Omega Keys." Prime stated with a slightly shaky voice.

"The what now?" Everyone asked.


	14. Chapter 14: Secrets and Questions

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 14

"The what now?" Everyone is the room was struck dumb by this statement.

"Zodiac, I believe you know about the Omega Keys. Care to enlighten my team?" Prime requested politely.

"The Omega Keys are ancient Celestian tools used to repair anything cybernetic or robotic in nature." The way I was talking sounded like I was reading from a dossier. "Each contains massive amounts of both Life and Storm magic; combining the two in the Keys and using them on Cybertron-"

"Would act like a massive jump-start or a total system reboot." Ratchet finished. "Do you know where to find them?"

"Sadly no. The Keys were sent to this universe centuries (Spiral time) ago to keep them as far as possible from the Shadow Queen's forces, who had invaded the world in hopes of learning the three Astral schools of magic. Not even Krasys would know where they are, and he has been here since the time of the ancient Greeks. The only ones who would know where they are would be the Celestians, but they are long extinct, and though some still haunt the place, the Shadow Queen cursed them and bound them to their world so that they are unable to leave it." I spat the last sentence out with venom in my tone. Binding the dead and not allowing them to leave and rest was an affront to the most ancient of Spiral laws.

"Then fortunately for us, Alpha Trion told me how to locate them."

After that, every 'Bot in the room looked like they'd had a mountain lifted off their shoulders. Smokescreen's only defense was "But I just got here" but he looked excited as well. Ratchet was the most vocal of the team, relishing the thought of finally going home. The bots with charges however, looked slightly reluctant to leave their human friends behind. The rookie finally walked over to me with a puzzled frown.

"Zodiac, keys open _doors_. Can they really revive an entire _planet_?" He asked.

"The Celestians were even more technologically advanced than you guys. Reviving a robotic planet would be a walk in the park for 'em. After all, they built the Star Forge, the Chancel, the Lunarium, the Stellarium, discovered Astral magic, and created the Stellar Protectors. Nothing was impossible for them." I summed up.

"You mentioned Astral magic before. What exactly is it?"

"Astral magic is essentially support magic. The Moon school is what allows the Knights to shape-shift, just like the phases of the moon. The Sun school is all about beefing up your spells and making them even stronger. The last one, the Star school, is about amplifying your aura or altering it to offer more defense, offense, healing boosts, I could go on and on about what it does."

"So I'm guessing you want to be present when each Key is found?"

"Exactly. Once they are used, I intend to return them to their creators, since the Shadow Queen was defeated by the Knights about a year ago (Spiral time) and is no longer a threat…The Celestians didn't deserve to be wiped out. They deserve some closure about their Keys and that they were used to heal, not harm." I struggled to hold back tears as I spoke. Wiping out an entire civilization just to get access to the three Astral schools? Only a sadist would do that, and Morganthe _was_ a sadist. Thank the Sky Father that the Knights had been able to take her down for good. I could only hope the Decepticons wouldn't find they Keys first and abuse their power.

About an hour later, Optimus had decoded the location of the first Key; near the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. It was judged best for the speedsters of the Autobots to go, those being Arcee and Smokescreen, as well as me. Time was of the essence, and we hadn't a moment to lose.

Fortunately, it was the school season, so no tourists were around when the three of us emerged. Also, it was nearing sundown, so most people would be inside their homes to escape the desert heat. The tracker the cyclebot had brought with her pointed at some ruins in the shadow of the Pyramids-most likely the tomb of the Pharaoh's family or court; the perfect place to hide a magical, alien relic. Smokescreen tried to apologize to Arcee for putting her human partner in danger, but she turned on him and gave a firm "Don't do it again" statement before walking into the depths of the ruins, the rookie and I following behind her.

The tomb itself was quite small, meaning the two larger bots had to crouch down to walk through the tunnels. Hieroglyphs and carvings adorned the stone walls, depicting scenes of everyday life and images of numerous Egyptian gods.

"Heh, nice of the humans to pile all these rocks on top of our relic, right?" Smokescreen commented, only to be met with an awkward silence. He must have felt awkward to begin with since he was the only guy present. The tracker Arcee was holding started beeping wildly when she pointed it at a nearby wall which showed two Egyptian Kings holding up a strange looking object-an Omega Key.

"Pretty much spells things out, doesn't it?" I said.

"Come on, help me move this." She pointed to the slab and took a firm hold of it. The rock wall jutted out slightly, indicating the "wall" was really a container of sorts. All three of us grabbed on and started pulling. After some work, the container detached itself and the first Omega Key was revealed inside.

"One down, three to go. Let's hope the others are this easy to get." The rookie said cheerfully.

"Murphy's Law." I muttered as we made our way back outside. My point was made when, as soon as we stepped back outside, an all too familiar face met us.

"The relic. Now." Megatron hissed.

"Three against one-we can take him." Smokescreen said. The former gladiator unsheathed a weapon from his back in reply. I recognized the foul purple substance it was comprised of in an instant.

Dark Energon. The one thing that could hurt a Knight.

"Oh shit. RUN! SCATTER!" I screamed. The warlord reacted like lightning, sending a purple shockwave of energy right at us. I managed to dodge, but the other two 'Bots weren't as lucky; they were sent flying over the back of the ruins, the relic falling from Arcee's hands and landing in the sand near Megatron's feet.

"Time for a rematch, ugly." I growled. I drew my sword, but before I could even swing it at him, Smokescreen opened a barrage of gunfire on the warlord. Each shot was deflected however, and another shockwave sent to rookie flying into the closest Pyramid. Gone. Or stay-was he?

'_Smokey, you there?' _I opened up a psychic link to him via the aura bond.

No answer, but I could feel he was still alive. Probably just out cold from the impact. But where the hell did he vanish to? You didn't ram into a Pyramid and vanish into thin air!

Arcee was struggling back to her feet, but she was clearly in no condition to fight. That meant a one on one with Megatron.

"Hey, ugly! It's rematch time!" I taunted and charged him without hesitation. I slammed my blade down, the warlord blocking it with ease. He was bigger and stronger than I was, but I'd learned over the years that my small size was an advantage over larger opponents because I was a much smaller target and a lot faster. We exchanged blows for some time; I managed to nick him with my sword, but it wasn't a fatal injury, and the Dark Energon inside him protected him from the poison my sword was coated in. I darted around him and cut him again, irritating him further. He managed to land a lucky strike on my lower arm and I screeched in pain as the foul substance his sword was made of seeped into my systems. Gold Ichor dripped from the injury and sank down to my knees, a hand over the open wound to try and stem the bleeding. _All is lost, there is no hope, give in and the pain with disappear_ the dark sword seemed to whisper to me. I almost believed it when a new voice broke in and dispelled the other. _Fight it, Zodiac! Fight the shadows! You've done it before, don't give up now!_ It wasn't Aello; the voice was clearly masculine and sounded young yet ancient at the same time.

The spell of despair was dead in an instant and newfound strength surged through me, but I knew better than to stick around. Arcee had evidently called for a groundbridge while she had been down, as one opened about ten yards away from me.

'_I'll come back for you, Smoke, just stay hidden.'_ I promised before dashing into the portal with Arcee.

Once again, the medic fussed over my newest injury. It wasn't as major as my previous one, but it still needed to be welded and a brace put around it to keep the weld from breaking accidentally. I told him that only a weld would be necessary, since a few healing pulses would completely heal the gash. He looked a little skeptical but complied nevertheless. Just as I told him, a few healing pulses over the weld mended the injury completely.

Arcee and I went on to explain that the only reason we were left alive was to tell Optimus that Megatron had issued a challenge to him: Come at get the Key from him if he wants it so badly. Seeing as the warlord had might to now equal the Star Saber, only Optimus and I stood a chance of recovering the Key from him.

Megatron was standing right where I'd left him, sword at the ready and a smirk on his face. I hadn't paid much attention before, but now I noticed that one of his hands was different-it looked like…that sick monster! He'd taken the hand of a dead Prime!

"What. Have you. Done?" I emphasized each word as I spoke it.

"Oh this? I've found it provides me certain…_advantages_; such as the use of the Forge of Solus Prime for instance." The warlord responded suavely and proceeded to unsheathe his vile sword once more. "My first creation, fashioned from the very blood of Unicron. I call it the Dark Star Saber-slayer of Primes if you will."

"Heh you could've _at least_ come up with a more creative name. Take mine for instance." I taunted and drew my own blade. "I like to call it Vasilískos, meaning Basilisk, due to the fact that it is coated in the venom of one. It has slain more villains than you have slain innocents."

"If you are trying to goad me into fighting you, little one, you won't succeed. I am here for Optimus only." He growled back.

"Zodiac, this is my fight, not yours. Fall back." Prime ordered.

"It's my fight just as much as it is yours!" I stomped one of my feet in frustration.

"And I'm telling you it _isn't_, so fall back."

I growled. "Fine…" and flew off to the Pyramid where Smokescreen had vanished.

'_Smoke? Can you hear me?'_ I asked again. Again, no answer. That shockwave must have really knocked him out good; that or he was just screwing with me. I turned back to see the two leaders squaring off and exchanging blow for blow. Each time the two blades met, a large energy field erupted around them, like the two were opposite ends of a magnet and trying to repel each other. Megatron landed a solid blow on his rival, and then, to my utter astonishment, shattered the Prime's Saber, the sword breaking almost down to the hilt. That wasn't possible. Spitfyre had made that sword out the best quality Sun Silver available, _nothing_ should've been able to break it. Optimus was now outgunned and overpowered.

Screw it. He was getting help whether he wanted it or not.

I let out high pitched screech and flew straight at the warlord, ramming into his chest and stunning him. Megatron swung blindly, but I was too fast for him-there one moment and gone the next. He slashed down and my blade met his-even with the titan's considerable strength I was able to keep him in a deadlock.

"Give me the relic!" He snarled.

"Oh what you mean this?" a familiar voice teased. A white form with a cocky smile walked out from behind the ruins where we were fighting.

"Finders, keepers." Smokescreen stated.

With the warlord now utterly baffled, I slashed repeatedly at him. He finally managed to block some of the blows and push me back towards the exhausted and wounded Prime. Megatron fired off another shockwave, but the rookie bolted forward and stood between us. Miraculously, the wave went right through us.

"Missed us!" Smokescreen winked. A groundbridge opened up behind us, most likely the Prime had called for one as soon as he'd spotted the newbie with the relic.

"NO!" Megatron ran forward to try and stop the three of us, but we jumped in, leaving him to strike at thin air.

I'd jumped in sideways, so I ended up landing on my side and having to pick myself up off the floor.

"Okay, where the hell did you vanish to? And how?" I demanded of the rookie.

"Ah…I decided to borrow the phase shifter…" He started slowly.

I scowled at him. "Again?"

"Good thing too. The wave from the blast hit me like a wrecking ball. Must've activated the shifter and made me pass through the pyramid. I have no clue how long I was unconscious, but when I got outside, Zee here was having a smack down with Megatron. So I waited until they were more focused on hitting each other…and I went a grabbed the Key."

Arcee actually managed a smile for him. "You're learning. Looks like Zee's tactics are starting rub off on you."

I put a hand to my chin in though. "What I don't get though is this: When Megsy wounded me with that sword of his during my first fight with him, the sword actually telepathically told me give up and die…and I nearly did so-except when another voice butted in and told me to keep fighting. Someone or some_thing_ gave me reason to keep going, and somehow gave me a strength boost. It wasn't the Knights' boss-I know his voice like the back of my hand-it was a younger voice, but it sounded old and wise and mischievous all at the same time. _Who was that?_"

"You said it was in your head, correct?" Ratchet inquired.

"Yeah…why?" I replied.

"You haven't taught _any_ of us telepathy. That wasn't a Cybertronian or a human; _it was a persona._" He told me and then let me connect the dots.

"But none of you have personas active enough to engage in mind-to-mind contact! Only someone already mind linked to me…." I turned to the rookie in shock. "Oh my gods it was you wasn't it?"

He pointed to himself in bewilderment. "Me? But I was out cold! I couldn't have done that!"

"_You_ may have been unconscious, but a persona doesn't need its host to be physically aware to transmit a mental message. It's actually easier if the host is undistracted by outside stimuli." I explained.

Smokescreen gave me a blank, glassy stare. "Aaand you lost me on that last bit."

The Prime graciously came to my rescue. "I believe what Zodiac means is that it was much easier for your persona to contact her while you were unconscious, rather than when you were awake." He simplified.

"Oh." Was the only answer Smokescreen gave. He noticed I was still frowning perplexedly. "You still don't seem satisfied. What's wrong?"

"The mental contact I can understand just fine, but that isn't all that happened. I also got a power boost; made me feel like someone had injected me with ten gallons of caffeine or something. That's what I don't get. There's no conceivable way for a practically dormant persona to transfer that much energy. It must have nearly exhausted itself doing that, but _how_ it did that is beyond me." I turned and began to walk away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go think and theorize before my head implodes. 'Night."

It was now second nature for me to head up to the mesa top if I was feeling nervy or confused in any way. Night air always seemed to calm my frazzled mind, no matter the circumstances. The medic had shown me a datapad a while ago so that I could summon one if I needed info or whatever. To be honest, I used it mainly to read or watch videos. Jack had told me about two different shows on TV that he thought I'd like, after I'd told him that I liked murder mystery genres; the two shows being _**Body of Proof**_and _**Castle**_. I loved them after watching only one episode of each.

So, while listening to the noises of the night and the current episode of _**Body of Proof**_ I was watching, I tried to think of how a practically dormant persona could have transferred that much energy to me. I shook my head in frustration and chanced to catch some slight movement out of the corner of my optic. I looked away to amuse the observer and went back to the video. Then I smiled and broke the on-lookers cover.

"You know you can come out, Smoke. I know you're there. Hard to hide from someone whose persona is half hawk and as such has the precision eyesight of one." I joked.

"Aw come on! How'd you know it was me and not someone else?" he whined.

"Lots of reasons. Main one being is that, in the dark, your aura looks like a large campfire. Kinda hard to miss something like that, no matter how well hidden you think you are. Plus I know where you are because of the aura-bond, so…yeah. Hiding from me is not in your best interest, or the best idea for that matter."

"You sound like Ratchet when he goes all science nut."

"Maybe, but I don't like things that don't make any sense. So I like to explain the easy stuff away. If only I could explain away that power surge just as easily." I sighed.

"Well what if you just rant about it someone? Maybe some little fact will come up and help."

"Thanks, but trust me, I already tried that with Aello. Even she can't come up with anything that makes sense and she's seen just about everything."

"Maybe talking with someone with a completely different personality print will help?"

"I have to agree with you there. So I guess I'll start up the conversation I had with you guys earlier." I took a deep breath in and started.

"As I said earlier, there is no conceivable way for a practically dormant persona to transmit that much energy. There's also another reason for it: Personas have different, well, 'types' or 'magic affinities' I guess is the best way to put it. Mine is a Myth/Storm combo, but mostly Myth. Yours is, rather obviously I might add, a Fire type. That's the problem. Only a Myth or a Balance can boost me, not a Fire. Another thing-when it spoke in my head earlier, it knew something that I haven't told to anyone, not even Optimus. When it said 'fight the shadows, you've done it before, don't give in now', I think there was a double meaning to it. Shadows can, metaphorically, mean many things, but in this specific case…I think it was referring to...to the murder of my parents." I paused to see the effect this last sentence had on Smokescreen. It was instantaneous.

His normally calm, easy-going demeanor was replaced by one of horror and agony. "Who-who did it? And why?"

"A group of Shadow Web mercs were the killers. As to why; the Shadow Queen realized that I was Aello's host long before I did, and decided to hurry the awakening along and traumatize her at the same time by forcing me to watch the torture and murder of my parents." I growled. "Needless to say, I killed the mercs right after. My sister was lucky and was out at the time, so she wasn't as badly traumatized. That's why my persona is considered 'volatile'-one little trigger can send her into a frenzy."

I was hunched up and hugging my legs to try and wash away the subconscious fear and hate that was building. I had to keep my emotions under control; I had to, no matter the cost. If I lost control I would end up killing anything in the next quarter mile, even beings I thought of as friends. The rookie seemed to be debating something internally, but I couldn't figure out what. Then, out of nowhere, he leaned forward and hugged me. I didn't have the heart to stop him either.

"I'm so sorry. No one should have to go through that kind of pain. Especially someone like you." He whispered.

I was silent for a while and said nothing in response for some time. Then I broke the silence.

"Thank you." I replied.

"What for?" he asked.

"…for caring." I said


	15. Chapter 15: Conjuring 101

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 15

I'd never put that much trust in anyone in my life before, and yet the rookie took it as a matter of course. He looked at me differently after that, a look that spoke of untold sympathy and understanding, and an offer of friendship that I was eternally grateful for. Sure I'd known the Knights and Optimus for much longer and they were essentially the same as the family I'd lost so long ago, but I'd never had someone I could unbend to so easily. Maybe it was his easy-going, happy-go-lucky attitude, maybe it was because of the accidental aura bond that happened, or maybe it was simply because he was around the same age as I was. Whatever it was, I appreciated it more than anything else in the world.

The next day dawned and the team went about their daily routines while their leader busily tried to decode the next Key location. Considering his former occupation as Archivist, it didn't take very long to decrypt the coordinates; it turned out that it was a combo code and told where to find two Keys, instead of just one. One was in the forests of Europe it looked like, while the other was near a small lake in Oregon. Bumblebee and Arcee were tasked to collect the Oregon Key, while I would accompany Bulkhead and Smokescreen to the Europe Key.

Allonz-y!

The three of us walked out into the forest, wary that we could be ambushed. The large oaks and maples provided perfect cover even for a good sized Cybertronian.

I had to appreciate the beauty of the forest in Autumn; it sort of reminded me of Avalon where I'd learned sword fighting from some of the best warriors to walk the Spiral, the rich golds and reds reminiscent of the resplendent tapestries in the castle there. Unfortunately, I got yanked back to reality when I heard a strange series of beeping coming from all around. It took me a while, but I figured out what the beeps were coming from in an instant.

Bombs. Dozens of them were stuck to the trees nearby, exactly the same as the ones Dreadwing had employed when he first attacked, as well as the attack at the docking bay. The explosives master himself stalked out of the trees up on a ridge about 200 feet away, detonator in hand and cruel smile on his faceplates.

"You…" I snarled.

"Ah, good to see your wing is in better condition, little one. I admit, it seemed a pity to have to mangle it at the time." Dreadwing purred suavely. "Sadly for you, this time you won't survive and neither will your compatriots." On that note, he pressed the trigger on the detonator.

Damn.

We all took off running to get out of range of the explosions, dodging to the left and right to avoid them as best we could. They didn't seem powerful enough to cause any significant damage other than incinerate the trees they were planted on. The purple Seeker was trying to distract us while he went after the relic. The 'Cons must have decoded the same coordinates as the 'Bots did, which meant it was now a race to the finish.

I skidded to halt and wheeled around to go after Dreadwing.

"Bulk, with me! Smoke, take the signal tracker and go after that Key! We can't afford to let him get it!" I ordered. The rookie looked hesitant so the green Wrecker drove the point home rather tactlessly.

"You heard your girlfriend! Go get that relic!" He shouted. Smokescreen bolted off while I stared at Bulkhead in evident loathing. He eventually noticed it.

"What?"

"You ever heard of something called 'what-is your-problem-why-did-you-say-it-out-loud', also known as subtlety?" I hissed at him. He glanced at me as though he quite honestly didn't get what I was saying. "You know what, forget about it for now. Here comes Dreadwing."

The purple Seeker had caught up with us in the hopes of finishing us if his bombs didn't cut it. He didn't bother speaking and charged Bulkhead, considering him to be the larger (literally) threat.

Big. Mistake. Time to show this guy what an angry Conjurer could do.

"Hey, Dread! Ever wonder what it's like to be petrified from fear?!" I yelled. As I suspected, he ignored me. I drove my sword into the ground and a large crack formed and opened, spewing sulfur and heat. A large, six-legged lizard creature clambered out and hissed, flaring its head frills in a threat gesture. It growled and hissed in anger, the monster's toxic breath making the grass and weeds around its feet wither and die as though the life had been sucked out of them. The fighting mechs took notice of the beast as it slinked towards them and both of them scrambled to get away from it.

"Jessie! Sick 'im!" I ordered. The basilisk hissed and lunged at the purple Seeker, who tripped over his own feet in his haste to try and flee, allowing the lizard beast to pin him and snarl in his face.

"What-what is this…_thing_?!" Dreadwing demanded. "Call off your beast, mage!"

"I will if you give me your word that you will leave as soon as I do so. I know you value honor, so I trust you will keep your promise." I knew he was much more scared that he was letting show, so he was probably praying for a good excuse to run like hell. Or fly. Either way.

"I will. Now call of your beast!" He agreed.

I whistled and the basilisk released Dreadwing, who flew off in an instant. Jessie planted himself right next to me, hoping for some kind of treat. I didn't have any treats on me, so he settled for a good pat on the neck instead. On seeing his job was done, he crawled back into the fissure and vanished along with the crevice he had emerged from. Bulkhead was another story altogether. He was half in awe and half in mortal terror at seeing what I'd recently summoned. I had to snap in his face a few times to bring him back to reality. That's when we both realized that Smokescreen hadn't come back.

"Where's the kid? Shouldn't he back by now?" the burly green Wrecker asked.

My optics went wide. "He might be in some kind of trouble. We need to find him."

"How? He has the signal tracker!"

I scowled at him and had to re-explain the whole aura-bond thing again. "Oooh right. Well, lead the way then."

Seeing as the forest canopy was too dense for me to fly above, I was forced to sprint down the path the rookie had taken earlier. The indents his pedes had left provided a trail for me to follow through the woods. Through a thicket of brambles and bushes about a mile from where I'd started, I noticed a prone white form crumpled on the ground. Smokescreen was passed out cold (shocker) in front of a large conglomeration of boulders, no doubt where the Key had been hidden. He didn't appear injured, but I wasn't about to take any chances. A weak electric shock-courtesy of Aello-woke him up with a slight jolt and his blue optics slowly flickered back online.

"Ugh….Zee? What happened?" He asked, his voice sounding slightly slurred.

"That's what we wanna know, kid." Bulkhead commented. The rookie shot up and looked wildly around suddenly before finally focusing on a tiny container wedged in the rocks. A tiny, _empty_ container that was now missing its contents, most likely an Omega Key.

"The Omega Key! I had it-until something hit me from behind." He whined.

"Someone cheap-shotted him! It wasn't Dreadwing though; I would've heard him if he had headed this way." I exclaimed.

"Dreads must've had back up. That Key is long gone by now." The green mech sighed.

"We might as well head back and keep our hands on the one Key we _do_ have. Come on." I motioned as I contacted base for a 'bridge. It appeared a few seconds later and we all walked in.

Arcee and Bumblebee had gotten back before we had and they looked pretty banged up. They told us that Knockout had ambushed them, armed with the Resonance Blaster, and taken the Key from them. Bulkhead was telling everyone how I'd summoned a basilisk and scared the living scrap out of Dreadwing, even though the beast hadn't actually attacked him, but merely snarled and hissed and him. This actually managed to get a weak laugh out of Arcee.

"Bet Dreadwing wasn't expecting that, was he?" she smirked.

"He looked like a deer in headlights when he saw Jessie come out of the fissure! Never thought a 'Con could look that terrified. Hell, even Bulk freaked and tried to make a break for it. You big wuss." I elbowed the green mech with a grin and a laugh.

"Hey! How was I supposed to know it wouldn't attack me as well?" he protested.

"Dude, Jess knows not to attack allies. He knows you're an ally by default, so he won't attack you under any circumstances." I said. I flitted up to the rafters to try and avoid being in the spotlight for too long. Sure I liked being around the 'Bots, but I liked being somewhat aloof and solitary, mainly because I didn't want to accidently hurt them if I lost control. Which, however slight that chance was, still unnerved me.

I watched the 'Bots talk and interact for a while, until some kind of argument/lecture thing started between Arcee and Smokescreen. Frankly, I wasn't that surprised. Arcee seemed to distrust him even more ever since that stunt the two of us pulled and had dragged her partner into, but in my opinion, I think she was being a little over-protective. Did I say a little? I meant a _lot_. To be fair, my sister would probably have reacted the same way. No offense intended to her of course, but I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. Optimus warned her to stop, telling her she'd made her point, but she kept going anyway. Eventually the argument/lecture thingy ended with the rookie driving out of the base after he said something along the lines of "Maybe I'm just not good enough". Prime and the medic both glanced up at me with a silent request: Follow him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. I didn't waste any time and flew out after him.

Finding him wasn't all that difficult. His white racecar mode stood out like, well, a white racecar on a dark road at night. I kept at a discrete distance in the air since I didn't want him to know that I was following him on purpose. He didn't have his headlights on, but I let that go seeing as he was the only car on the road and thus ran no risk of crashing into anything or anyone at this time of night. I continued following him deeper into the Nevada desert when I heard a weird buzzing-chirping noise. It wasn't a cicada-it was way too loud and way too high pitched-so I glanced around to try and locate the source of the noise. I finally found the perpetrator: Lazerbeak, Soundwave's surveillance drone, and it had fired off a warning shot as though to say "I'm not messing around and I'm a tough little bugger". If Lazerbeak was here, then his master had to be close by, but the search drone was far more agile and much faster than its owner. I had to take it out first before focusing on Soundwave.

I banked hard to the left and shot after the little drone, screaming a challenge to it and daring it to attack me. It beeped and shot at me before rocketing into the air and going pretty much trigger-happy with his mounted gun. I dodged all of them save for one, said blast hitting me hard on my right wing and sending me spiraling out of control and slamming into the ground 250 feet below. The impact left me dazed and disoriented. My optics were glitching out, but I was able to discern that I'd impacted about 100 feet away from Smokescreen, who was trying to hold his own against Soundwave. Unfortunately, my rough landing distracted the rookie and he turned to look, leaving him wide open to attack. Soundwave pressed his good fortune and landed a solid hit on the youngster's head, sending him crashing to the ground. He was down and just barely awake.

I stumbled forward and cried out "No!" just as the silent mech grabbed the rookie by his neck and dragged him through an open groundbridge, which no doubt led right onto the _Nemesis_. Another groundbridge burst open just as the other one closed, Team Prime rushing forward to try and rescue its newest member. But they were too late, just as I had been.

I lost it.

Rage, cold and animalistic, started rising, and I couldn't stop it. I hardly noticed that the others looked terrified beyond belief; I didn't care, not now. I was panting hard and trying to keep my emotions under control, but I could tell that it would be of no use. Aello was too angry to calm down by normal means at this point. If something didn't calm her down, she'd kill anyone and anything in her path. She made me wheel around and fly at the 'Bots. Everyone shouted a warning to the Prime, but just as I was about to hit him, he held up a hand and stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Calm yourself _kataigída tacheía_. We will get him back, rest assured." He soothed her. Miraculously, I could already feel the hate and anger subsiding.

"How the hell do you know Greek?!" I shouted in disbelief.

"Because I had the best teacher one could ask for. You." He smiled.

"Uh boss? How the slag are you still _alive_? Zee looked ready to gut you without a second thought!" Bulkhead stammered. The other bots nodded and looked confused as well and waited for an answer.

"Let us return to base and I will explain what I can, though my knowledge is patchy at best."

Everyone agreed that returning to base was the best course of action, since being out in the open wasn't the wisest idea ever. All of Team Prime gathered around and looked expectantly at their leader for some form of explanation about what had happened about five minutes previously.

"As I said before, my knowledge about what just happened is very limited. I know only two things: that Aello is very volatile and that Zodiac has trouble controlling her emotions and thus has trouble controlling Aello if she gets too wild or angry. As to why she stopped before striking me, I can only guess." Prime began. "Zodiac? Do you have any insight as to why you stopped?"

"Kinda, sorta…maybe? All I know is that when you were talking there was some weird humming noise. Don't know where it was coming from though." I replied back.

I began feeling afraid and nervous for no reason all of sudden. I winced instinctively and held my head, which felt as though some dark presence was rummaging around inside, looking for something.

"Zee? Are you alright?" the medic asked.

"I-I don't know. It feels like there's someone in my head." I whimpered.

"Zodiac, you are not hooked up to a cortical psychic patch. There is no one inside your mind."

"Then…" I couldn't even finish the sentence before a pair of blood red optics flashed across my mind and made be back up against the wall and start hyperventilating.

"What's wrong? What'd you see?" Arcee pressed.

"_Megatron_." I managed to gasp out.

"I know why the Decepticons took him." He stated. The last entry made no sense at all. It wasn't coordinates. It was a picture of Smokescreen. Maybe that was why it took only a few moments to decrypt. That or he'd decoded it earlier, probably when I was chasing after the rookie to get him to come back to base. And that would explain why the entire team had come hauling ass to where I was.

"Huh?" Everyone stood staring at the image.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Arcee huffed.

"Well, maybe the kid knows where the key is?" Bulkhead suggested.

"And never bothered to tell us?" she shot back.

"Maybe ,somehow, Smokescreen himself is the Key without knowing it." The medic mused to himself.

"Or he's simply its container." I thought aloud. "All that aside, we need to get him off that warship ASAP. He was right there when I told you guys what the Keys can do, and from all I can get from his mind right now, Megatron just found that out but, thankfully, is no longer using the patch anymore since he got what he wants."

"The warship is _cloaked_. There is no way we can find it." Ratchet argued.

I grinned in spite of myself. "Who said we need to find it? All I need to do is mentally help him off the ship."

"Do it." Everyone agreed.

I sat down and focused on getting the rookie's attention. Which, by the way, wasn't all that difficult to begin with.

'_Hey, you there?'_

_A burst of surprise and confusion. 'Zee? How the-'_

_'Yes I'm talking in your head. Chill. Now, do exactly what I tell you…'_


	16. Chapter 16: The Trickster

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 16

_'Um, okay? Order away I guess.'_

_ 'Tell me where you are and what is going on around you.'_

_ 'Uh, Megatron left after pulling an Omega Key out of me and Knockout is still here and he has the phase shifter. Oh, and I'm restrained.'_

_ 'Alright. Is the shifter still on? I've got an idea.'_

_ A mental smirk. 'Yeah, he's probably too over confident to turn it off.'_

_ 'Heh, perfect. Try and entice him close enough so you can grab it and phase out of those restraints.'_

Needless to say, the vain medic took the bait flawlessly and allowed his "prisoner" to escape with the phase shifter.

_'Okay, now what?'_

_ 'Uh, I didn't get that far. But that makes it more fun.'_

_ 'So you think that improvisation is fun. I thought you were an expert tactician or something?'_

_ 'That's beside the point. Head for the vault so you can grab the Keys back.'_

_ 'Got it.' _

I didn't interrupt him as he headed for the vault. I did however continue to listen in to his thoughts. A sudden burst of mischief got me suspicious.

_'…What did you do….'_

_ 'I stole the Key Megsy was taking to the vault right out of his hand AND took the one that was in the vault. So we're good to go.'_

_ 'You're an idiot, you know that? You just painted a giant bulls-eye on your back because of that. And correct me if I'm wrong, you can't fly and Autobot groundbridges can't be opened on the Nemesis.'_

_ 'Wow, somebody's pessimistic today. And in regards to the whole not flying thing…yeah you got me there.'_

I gave an expressive sigh. _'Just get to the top of the ship. I don't know what to do beyond that, because yes you'd be outside, but you're still technically cloaked by the ship so we can't open a bridge for you.'_

_ 'I'm heading there now. And I just phased through an Insecticon and probably made him think he's crazy.'_

_ 'Stay focused.'_

_ 'Alright, alright, alright. Sheesh.'_

A brief cut of silence, then:

_'Okay I'm up top. Bad news, I've got company. And by company I mean Megatron and a tiny army of Vehicons and Eradicons.'_

_ 'Yeah, that's what's commonly referred to as karma. It comes back to bite you.'_

_ Um, would you kill me if I said I just jumped off a warship that's about 1 mile in the air?'_

_ 'You did WHAT!? ARE YOU INSANE?!' _

Apparently I said that out loud as well as internally, because everyone in the room looked at me like I was off my rocker.

"Do I even want to know?" Ratchet groaned.

"Possibly not but I'll tell you anyway. The kid just jumped off the warship and he can't fly." I said.

The medic snapped at that point. "WHAT?! Is he insane?!"

"That's what I said." I grumbled. The medic's anger quickly turned to frantic panic. The console flared to life and showed the kid's signal falling rapidly to the ground.

[Smokescreen, I'm opening a groundbridge directly below you.]

[Brace yourselves, I'm gonna make an entrance.] The rookie warned. The blip on the screen veered completely off course and missed the open bridge.

"You missed?" I fumed.

[Yeah, that wasn't my fault. Megatron crashed into me and made that happen.]

"Open another one! Fast!" Bulkhead demanded. Ratchet complied as fast as he possibly could. But again, Smokescreen was knocked off course. This plan wasn't going to work.

_'I have another idea, but on this you have to trust me.'_

'_Name it.'_

_ 'Turn to car mode.'_

I told Ratchet to open one final 'bridge. On getting a firm nod, I switched to dragon mode and rocketed through, much to the astonishment of everyone in the room, and even more to the sky-diving car I was fast approaching. I had told the medic to open one from the side so as to give me a better angle for what I was about to do. Catch him.

'_Go limp! This might hurt!'_ I cautioned. Though how a car could go limp was a question for another day.

I rammed into the white racecar and grabbed him in my claws, wheeled back around and shot back into the portal. With my front claws unable to steady my landing, I ended up tumbling head over tail and smacking into the far side of the silo, while poor Smokescreen ended up flipped upside down in car mode.

"Owwww…" the rookie moaned before switching out of his vehicle mode. I shared his sentiments about that, but I was too dizzy to switch out of dragon mode. I saw him hold up both Keys proudly with huge grin, all signs of discomfort about the rough landing gone. My dizziness fading slightly, I managed to stagger to my, now four, feet and flap my wings a few times to get the feeling back into them. This got everyone's attention and they all stood stone still and stared at me, half in fear and half in wonder. As a counter to that argument, Ratchet was staring with unabated scientific curiosity more than anything else.

'_Don't even think about it.'_ I growled.

"So _that's_ how you managed to catch 'Bee and slow his fall that one time!" Arcee exclaimed. "You can turn into a predacon!"

I switched out at that and argued her statement. "Technically no, I'm not a predacon. True, I got the blueprints for one when I first ended up on Cybertron-I landed near a fossil bed of some predacon bones-but this is actually a combo of that blueprint and my original dragon form that I got back home. So to put it simply, I can turn into a real freaking dragon. Any questions?"

*Uh just one. What else can you turn into?* the scout buzzed.

I held up three digits and ticked them off one by one. "Well you've already seen one-a dragon. I can also turn into a pegasus and a wolf. The former is used for aerial scouting and the latter is used for tracking. The dragon form is kind of for both, though mainly for aerial combat. That summarize pretty well for you?"

*Cool!* he trilled. *You're sort of like a triple-changer! Except with beast modes!*

I laughed. "Pretty much, yeah. Though I think it would be safer to call me a quadruple-changer, but that doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?"

"Hellooo? What am I, chopped liver?" Smokescreen butted in. "I got two Omega Keys!"

"Where's the third one that got snagged from you though? Was it not there?" I wondered.

He shrugged. "They were the only Keys in Megatron's vault."

"Then three Keys are accounted for." Prime rumbled.

"So…Megatron never had the fourth Key to begin with?" Arcee asked.

Just then, the console beeped an incoming transmission.

"A high frequency signal with an embedded message." Ratchet announced.

"Starscream." Bulkhead grumbled.

"'I have obtained something of great interest to you which seems to be of no practical use to me.'" The medic read.

"It's gotta be the missing Omega Key!" I shouted.

"He's the one who blindsided me!" the rookie realized.

"What else could Scream be referring to?" the cyclebot inquired.

"Ep, ep, ep. There's more." The medic silenced her. "'Bring medical kit. I only ask for the surgical replacement of my T-cog in return."' He finished.

"Ha! Like we're gonna give that coward his wings back!" the green Wrecker ridiculed.

"Without the missing Key, Cybertron will remain devoid of life." Ratchet argued.

"Sorry to be a broken record but…it could be a trap." Arcee reiterated what I had started calling her "catch phrase".

"It is possible that Starscream does not yet realize the significance of what he holds." Prime reasoned.

I could only hope he was right.

The team members picked to go were Ratchet, Bulkhead, Optimus, and me. The others stayed back to ensure that nothing got in or out that was unauthorized. The coordinates the Scream gave us looked eerily similar to the place I'd found him before, when he'd been shot out the sky upon trying to flee the warship. Right in front of where the four of us had come out of the vortex, a prone grey form was slumped forward against a fallen tree. Starscream. That was odd; he didn't even react when we had come out like he normally would have. Guy was normally so on edge he'd yelp at the slightest noise. That was definitely suspicious. I motioned at the others to be on guard, while I dropped into wolf mode and crept up to the grey form.

Things got stranger when I saw a large hole in the grey Seeker's chest. His eyes were dark too, and a few sniffs told me that this guy had been dead for quite a while. I said as much to Ratchet when I went back over to him.

"How is that even possible? He just sent us a transmission!"

"Arcee was right. This _was_ a trick, and Screamy knew what the Keys can do." I muttered. Aloud I gave a curt order:

"Close the groundbridge guys! Pronto!"

The vortex closed, but I knew that the trick had worked, because an ash colored blur shot past and then, for some reason, stopped right in front of the 'Bots to sneer at them. Starscream seemed to be jittering and shaking, probably because he was moving at a higher frequency that everyone else. Huh. So he had gotten away with a small amount of Red energon and actually made good use of it by robbing us blind. Not bad.

That's when karma decided to bite the Seeker right in the aft. He stopped jittering and shaking and returned to normal, much to his consternation because he was right in front of the Prime's massive Ion cannons, both of which were aimed right at his face.

"Heh…the Red energon wore off, didn't it?" he squeaked.

"He has the Omega Keys!" Ratchet exclaimed.

Starscream yelped and fired off one of his wrist mounted missiles at near point blank range at us. I was secretly thankful he had been too startled to shoot straight, because the shot went wide and blasted a nearby boulder to smithereens. He took off running since he was unable to fly, pulled out some sort of dark colored device and began feverishly tapping it, all the while dodging gun shots from a trio of very upset Autobots.

The device turned out to be some kind of remote control for the Decepticon groundbridge system, because one opened up a few yards in front of the fleeing Starscream. I took a last resort attack and flung Vasiliskos at him, but he vanished into the portal and it closed behind him, the sword impaling harmlessly in a nearby tree. I let out a frustrated scream after I pulled the blade out.

Well, so much for that plan. But what would Starscream even do with the Keys?

I voiced that question to the medic, and he agreed that the Keys would be of no use to the turn-wing while he wasn't aligned with either faction. On that, we all went back to base to mull over the problems this event might cause.

All the theories that were formed didn't end up with a good ending. "'He might use the Keys to buy back King 'Con's favor, he might try and use them himself'", and so on and so on. Personally, I backed the "Buy back Megatron's favor" theory, since that seemed the most likely. It would be just like Starscream to go slinking back to his former master and begging to be let back in with the Decepticons. But whether the warlord would actually let him back in was another question. According to Optimus, his arch-enemy trusted the wily Seeker about as far as he could blast him, which was probably a safe bet considering all the attempts Starscream had made to either kill Megatron or usurp his position as 'Con leader in the past. I sincerely hoped that Megsy would simply blast his former SIC's head off and do everyone a favor.

It was also unanimously agreed upon to tell the children about the Omega Keys, since their guardians felt that they deserved to know about them, but we didn't tell them that we no longer possessed them; at least, not at the moment. Miko was high spirited as ever, Raf seemed visibly upset that he might lose his yellow friend, and Jack was simply talking with Arcee about what this could mean for both planets; that the two worlds might form an alliance with each other and such things like that. That didn't sound as far-fetched as one might think. I thought it seemed very plausible that such an alliance might form and that it might be very helpful for both parties.

We _would_ get the Keys back, no matter the cost! Of that, I felt certain.

Oh how wrong I would be…..


	17. Chapter 17: Under Lock and Key

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 17

Seeing that the Decepticons had the Forge, the Resonance Blaster, and a heavily armed warship, things weren't looking too great. And that was being optimistic. There was still the possibility that Starscream had bartered the Keys to Megatron in return for being reaccepted back into the Decepticon ranks, and that would be extremely bad, though "extremely bad" might be an understatement.

As a slight-not really sure if this counts as a "side note", but you know what I mean- Team Prime was debating if Screamer really had rejoined the 'Cons after using the Keys to buy back his former master's favor. Ratchet scoffed slightly when Arcee asked him that very question.

"Hmph, without first trying to sell them to highest bidder? I-I wouldn't be surprised if he had the nerve to contact _us_!"

And speak of the devil; the console beeped an incoming transmission.

"Why that little…." I hissed.

"It isn't Starscream. It is Dreadwing….and he wants to meet." The medic clarified.

"Wha-? Why?" I was dumbfounded to be honest.

"I guess we'll have to find out."

The rendezvous point was an isolated region of East Asia, deep in the cloud forests. The fog provided ample cover if this were an ambush, so everyone (minus Ratchet) was on high alert the moment they stepped out of the groundbridge, guns at the ready. The mist rendered my wolf mode's tracking abilities to zero, so I kept to bipedal mode, employing my enhanced sight to try and pick up even the slightest movement. I spotted a vague silhouette form and walk forward. Dreadwing, but he was unarmed and clearly not wanting to fight, if the grief-stricken, sullen look on his faceplates was any hint.

"I am not here to fight, but to give you this." He announced and pointed at a large, golden object on the ground.

"The Forge of Solus Prime." I breathed. The item that the Flame Knight, Spitfyre, had enchanted for the Thirteen's resident blacksmith.

"Could be rigged to blow." Bulkhead warned.

"Why? Why are you willingly helping us?" I asked. It didn't make any sense; Dreadwing was Megatron's most loyal follower, so why give the enemy such a powerful relic?

"Dreadwing, what do you ask in return?" Prime requested.

"Only that you use it wisely." The purple Seeker replied.

"And? The Omega Keys?" Arcee butted in.

"In Megatron's possession, under heavy guard."

"Knew it." I muttered. "Scream did make a deal with 'Cons. But again, why? Why help us?"

"A shadow of disgrace has been cast upon the Decepticon. It is a cause…that I no longer wish to be a part of." He answered, and cast a sullen look to the ground.

The Prime lowered his weapons and said:

"Then I will appeal to you again. Join us and help end this conflict once and for all."

"Betraying my kind is not the same as accepting yours." Dreadwing said with finality. He turned around and transformed, vanishing into the mist. I couldn't help but feel that this was the last time we would ever see him. With the boon he'd just given us however, I felt no anger towards him declining Optimus's offer, but instead a deep pity that I couldn't quite explain.

The base was abuzz with excitement at this odd turn of events. The Forge hummed with power in the Prime's grip, who in turn seemed equal parts honored and mystified to be holding the item.

"With the Decepticons in possession of all four Omega Keys, a more appropriate use of the Forge would be to use it to replicate our own." Ratchet suggested.

"Even with the power of the Forge, replicating even a single Omega Key would require a level of expertise I do not possess. The only one who could possibly accomplish such a feat would be the Spiral Knight known as Titan, but since he did not enchant the Forge, he would be unable to use it." Prime answered.

"He makes a fair point there, Doc." Smokescreen quipped.

"Then we better hope that Megatron doesn't just destroy the Keys, to prevent anyone from going home." Arcee deadpanned.

"Megatron may be evil, but I believe he will use the Keys for their intended purpose."

"Well I say we let him keep 'em and do the work for us." Bulkhead remarked. That made everyone in the room turn on him and look at him like he was downright crazy.

"I-I mean what difference does it make who restores Cybertron?" He added.

"If Megatron revives Cybertron, he will no doubt use it to his political advantage." Optimus elucidated.

The green mech went glassy eyed at the term "political", and I shared his opinion. I hate politics. End of story.

"In all likelihood, the leader of the Decepticons would be portrayed as our planet's savior, and have all Autobots branded as war criminals." His leader simplified.

"Megsy's so called 'achievement' could influence your race for centuries to come. He'd switch things around and make it seem like the 'Cons were the heroes and the 'Bots were the bad guys." I muttered. "Whoopdedoo…."

The Prime offered a smile at my version of his explanation. "Do not give way to such enthusiastic despair, Zodiac. While the Decepticons may possess the Omega Keys, they have yet to know of the existence and location of the Omega Lock itself."

I snapped my fingers at this snippet of info. "Of course! That thing!"

"So you know of it then?"

"Duh! Before the Celestians were wiped out, and long before the Shadow Wars began, they gave it to your kind as a peace offering; a gesture of friendly alliance." I told him. "That thing is Celestian engineering at its finest."

"But it could be anywhere on Earth! How are we supposed to find it?" Arcee protested.

I grinned at her. "Actually, it's on Cybertron."

"And you two didn't think to tell us this why?" Ratchet sounded hurt.

"Because if they had, Megatron would've pulled it out of my head with his 'patch'." Smokescreen defended.

"Exactly. We couldn't risk it." I agreed.

"Now that that little issue is dealt with, I must begin work on upgrading the groundbridge. We have not a moment to lose." Prime announced. The little group dispersed around the silo command center to wait.

The wait was long, but it seemed longer because of the pent up anxiety of the team. It was only about an hour, but it felt like a day had passed before Prime informed us that the upgrades were done.

"Man, Spitfyre really knew his stuff. A few swings of that hammer and bam!" Bulkhead cheered.

"Our groundbridge is now a spacebridge. And Spitfyre _still_ knows his stuff." I confirmed. To add more flair to mood, the spacebridge roared to life, up and ready to use.

Ratchet broke in on the reverie. "Our sensors just detected a massive energy surge outside Earth's atmosphere. A surge of that magnitude can only mean one thing: activation of another spacebridge."

"Megatron has discovered that the Omega Lock is Cybertron." Optimus rumbled.

"There goes our advantage." I mumbled.

"Not entirely. Megatron remains unaware that we now possess the means of interstellar travel. The element of surprise is still in our favor. We must embark on this mission with every resource at our disposal."

The 'Bots dispersed and chose weapons from the vault; Bumblebee had the Polarity Gauntlet, Arcee the Apex Armor, Bulkhead picked the Immobilizer, and Smokescreen added the Spark Extractor to his preferred Phase Shifter, since that gadget would allow him to escape the Extractor's radius very fast. All I needed was Vasiliskos, a slew of combat and healing spells, and my wings and my wits, all of which I already had. Right before we departed, the sound of hammering filled the silo.

"What's he forging now?" Arcee wondered. The answer came when Prime strolled out with a new and restored Star Saber.

"Show off." I grinned.

"Oh and you're one to talk, Zee." Smokescreen joked.

"Shut up." I growled back. I stomped into the spacebrige without further ado.

Cybertron looked just as it had last time, a barren husk of a planet with crumbling buildings and tattered roads. It still hurt to look at, but I was hopeful that the Keys and the Lock could return it to its brilliant, chromatic glory. All we had to do is find it.

"The Omega Lock lies deep in the Sea of Rust. Zodiac, get up in the air and give us a harpy's eye view, but not too high. We do not want to attract attention." Prime ordered.

"On it. If I spot anything, I'll give ya a mental ring." I accepted. A launched into the air, careful to remain at about 150 feet up; high, but not too high. This would enable me a greater range of view and also allow me to remain under the visible radar.

The Sea of Rust was aptly named- a large expanse of iron oxide with rough winds kicking up the rust and tossing it into tiny dust devils (or would that be rust devils?). Structures lied half buried underneath the rust- remnants of an older civilization perhaps? - which would provide perfect cover for a sneak attack by either side.

'_Guys. Bunch of building out here. Might be useful for a sneak attack. Over.'_ I relayed.

'_Understood Zodiac. We are on route to your location. Smokescreen is ahead of us and will provide cover fire if the enemy shows before we catch up.'_ Prime confirmed.

I spotted the white youngster phasing through numerous obstacles. He noticed me and offered a wave before vanishing underground to wait. I, meanwhile, took up a perch on a tall spire-like structure and gazed in every direction and spotted the Decepticon army marching forward, four Vehicons holding each of the four Omega Keys.

_'Smokes, they're coming. Be ready. You don't need to take them all out, just disorient them. Take out some if you can, but be careful if you do.'_ I advised.

_A pulse of appreciation. 'Thanks for the heads up, Zee. You be careful too.'_ He answered.

Just as the enemy marched past his underground hidey hole, he phased out and opened fire on a trio of Eradicon troopers, incapacitating them and confusing the rest, Megatron included.

"What just happened?!" the warlord snarled. Smokescreen darted in-between another set of building and decided to go all or nothing, firing round after round at the troopers and taking out at least half a dozen. I took part in the free-for-all and dove down, impaling a random Vehicon and slashing at another.

"Smokescreen and Zodiac?! But that's impossible! The Autobots do not possess the means to-" Megatron cried out. That statement of his was proven dead wrong when the rest of Team Prime barged in, weapons activated, and began to trash a row of troopers with ease before focusing on the ones holding the Keys.

"CRUSH THEM!" Megatron commanded, and every trooper opened fire. Not that it did them much good. 'Con troopers can't aim to save their own sparks. I didn't spot Steve or Simon among the ranks, but in all honesty I couldn't tell one Vehicon or Eradicon from another, they all looked exactly alike.

So instead of the 'Cons crushing us, we proceeded to crush them. Literally. 'Bee dropped a large pile of scrap metal on a group of drones, squishing them underneath it, while Arcee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen charged head-on into the fray. I continued to dive bomb and strike from the air. Optimus went full bad-ass and slashed and stabbed and swung his way towards the Vehicons holding the Keys, their brethren having formed a protective ring around them. The green Wrecker and the yellow scout assisted their leader, the green mech freezing the Key holders and the scout magnetizing the Keys and dropping them into the open hands of his team. Smokescreen tossed his Key up to me and I snatched it easily.

"PSYCHE suckers! Hahaha!" I taunted the enemy. Optimus took this opportunity and sent an azure energy wave at the stunned Megatron, sending him flying and crashing on top of a nearby building. Smokescreen had phased back underground while the other 'Bots seemingly fled; in reality, they were getting out of range of the Extractor, which the rookie deployed in an instant before sinking back below ground. Apparently the thing created a dome structure, so it didn't reach underground, meaning he was perfectly safe from its effects. He re-emerged and drove off to catch up with the others, after at least 50 drones were offed in one go from the Extractor. I didn't bother sticking around either and zipped off as well, but not after giving Megatron, who had sadly been out of range and even worse had broken the Extractor by flinging his own blade into it, a cocky wink and salute.

I caught up with the Autobots pretty quickly, mainly because I wasn't, if only slightly, hampered by being ground bound. Turned out the Lock wasn't all that far from our previous fight; at a rough guess maybe a few miles.

"Our head start won't last very long." Arcee warned. I agreed. Just because we'd taken the 'Cons totally unawares didn't mean they wouldn't give chase. They'd be itching for a rematch.

Everyone had switched out of their vehicle modes so as to produce less noise and cautiously approached a rather nondescript well-like thing sticking out of the rust surrounding it. The Keys reacted in a heartbeat, glowing a faint bronze and lightly tugging their holders forward. As soon as I and the other holders walked towards it, it began to glow as well. Gears chugged and advanced hydraulics hissed and raised what looked something like a command console in the center. The outside shifted even more dramatically with four massive pillars rising up and supporting up a ring-like structure. Inside the ring was a strange, shimmering substance that acted like water and shone a brilliant aquamarine blue.

"Feast your optics on the apex of Celestian magical engineering." I smiled.

"Okay, I'm officially mind blown." Bulkhead gaped.

"_This_ is what the Celestians were capable of? I knew you said they were good, I just didn't think they were _that_ good." Smokescreen commented.

"Uh helloo? They made the Omega Keys and all those other things I told you about. Of course they were good enough to build something like this." I huffed back at him.

The awe-struck mood was broken as a purple and grey Cybertronian fighter jet roared towards us, transformed and thudded to the ground. Megatron had caught up to us. All the Autobots powered up their weapons and fixed them on the warlord. Strangely, he didn't raise his own weapon, and I disliked the slow way he was smiling. Something was wrong.

"Autobots, I would suggest you lower your weapons and hand over those Keys." Megatron hissed.

"Fat chance, ugly." I growled back. "Not gonna happen."

At an invisible signal from Megatron, a spacebridge opened up behind him, and Knockout, Starscream, and Soundwave stalked forward, each holding a pod. My anger only grew at seeing what was contained inside.

The kids. Somehow the 'Cons had snatched them and brought them here as leverage.

"And if we refuse your autocratic demand?" Prime inquired.

"Then I will be forced to open the pods and expose the humans to Cybertron's toxic atmosphere. And we can all watch them instantly perish." The warlord sneered.

I was bristling with fury by this point. No doubt Smokescreen felt it too, because he shifted uneasily on his pedes. He understood that a single flick of the emotional switch could send me into a berserker frenzy and possibly endanger the children in the process.

So much for having an advantage.


	18. Chapter 18: Rise of Darkmount

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 18

'_Zee, breathe. You cannot afford to lose control in a hostage situation.'_ Prime cautioned. That simple phrase brought me back to reality in a flash. These were human kids; I couldn't afford to hurt them, even if accidentally.

Out of the three children, Jack and Raf looked worried and frightened, whereas Miko was as spunky as ever and kicking the side of her pod. Realizing that it was no use, she slumped down and sat cross-legged, but she still had an angry frown on her face.

"Not how I wanted to spend my first trip to Cybertron." I heard her grumble.

"Let. Them. Go." I growled. Megatron simply gave another cruel smirk and said "Starscream".

The SIC took the hint and scraped his claw-like digits down the side of the pod Jack was inside of, generating a horrible screeching noise, like nails being dragged down a chalkboard. Megatron knew he now had the upper hand and was simply antagonizing the 'Bots at this point. Jack turned on his captor in an instant.

"Go ahead. The Autobots were willing to risk their lives for our planet. We'll do the same for theirs." He said coolly. I had to admire his resolve. Miko took up the gig and threatened her captor as well, while Raf gave a small nod and remained silent.

"Perhaps we should oblige them." The warlord sneered.

"If my decision dooms the future of the Autobot cause on Cybertron, then so be it." Optimus seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone. He then walked forward and jabbed the Saber into the ground before backing away. All the other 'Bots threw their weapons on the ground as well. I stubbornly kept a firm grip on Vasiliskos.

"Ah, ah, ah. You too, Knight." Starscream hissed.

I rolled my eyes and tossed the blade into the pile. "You're gonna regret it." I warned.

"Now the Keys. One at a time." Megatron demanded.

Bulkhead stepped up first. He smacked his Key into Knockout's open hand and growled a warning, to which the vain medic replied with a haughty "You're welcome." as he handed Miko back to her guardian. Bumblebee went next and buzzed angrily at Soundwave before beeping worriedly a few times and walking back to the others after surrendering his Key. Now there was only Jack left, and we still had two Keys, so maybe we'd manage to get away with keeping one. That hope was dashed to pieces when Megatron said:

"If this human is special enough to be entrusted with the Matrix of Leadership, I would think that he's worth two Omega Keys."

Understanding that there was no choice in the matter, Arcee and I stalked up and handed over the remaining Keys. She asked her human partner if he was okay, and he nodded silently. When we got back to the others, he glanced up at me curiously.

"What did you mean by 'You're gonna regret it?' Regret what?" He asked.

I snickered. "You'll see. Just wait."

If things couldn't get any worse, another spacebridge opened and Decepticon troopers swarmed out, surrounding us on all sides. The four 'Con officers inserted the Keys and previously unseen etchings on the outer pillars lit up and arced to the ring, powering it up and making the water-like substance glow even brighter.

Megatron couldn't resist his own ego and went drama-king extraordinaire.

"Behold! The age of the Decepticons!" He pressed an icon on the holographic console and a beam of white light shot out of the ring and contacted a nearby dilapidated building. It lit up and all the missing pieces of it levitated off the ground, the building quite literally re-constructing itself in seconds. Where a torn down structure stood before, a gleaming building, resplendent in silver metal now stood in its place, completely restored.

"Shiny!" Knockout commented.

Optimus turned to his rival. "You have what you want Megatron. Allow us to return the humans to Earth."

"Oh, I think they'll be far safer here." The warlord smiled viciously. He turned to his SIC. "Is the spacebridge locked on target?"

Starscream gave a rather exaggerated bow. "Per your instructions, Lord Megatron."

"Excellent." Megatron muttered. He turned back to his arch-enemy. "Why rule just one planet…when I could rule _two_?"

A spacebridge opened up directly above the Omega Lock. No…He wasn't going to…

He touched the holographic console again, and another white beam shot straight up into the vortex. Straight for Earth.

"But if the Omega Lock can restore Cybertron, it'll do the same for Earth…won't it?" Miko clung to a single hope that this wasn't a bad thing.

"No. It will cyber form your planet, destroying any indigenous life in the process." Prime told her.

'_Zodiac, we must destroy the Lock, lest humanity be annihilated.'_ He informed me privately.

'_I don't want to, but I appreciate your point. I'll help, but I need to grab my sword first.'_

'_No, I will do the deed. You need to cause a distraction and contact Ratchet for a spacebridge back to Earth.'_

'_Distraction huh? I know just the thing….' I mentally grinned at him._

'_Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?'_

"Hey guys! Anyone got the ball bearings to try and pick up Vasliskos? Or are you too chicken to touch a magic sword?!" I taunted.

One Vehicon had already been approaching the blade and took this as his chance to touch a Knight's blade in front of an audience. As soon as his hand touched the hilt, he pulled it back with a scream and watched in horror as his entire hand melted into a puddle of goo at his feet.

Every 'Con turned to look at the puddle and were too puzzled to react for the moment.

'_Go!'_ I told Prime. He surged forward, grabbed the Saber and swung a few drones aside, all in one fluid movement. Megatron attempted to stop him, but that utterly backfired. When he raised his blade arm to swing down on his opponent, Prime reacted faster, slicing the warlord's entire arm clean off, and kept on going. He cleaved down on the Lock and it blew sky high, everyone fleeing to try and escape some of the debris. In the ensuing chaos, I grabbed Vasiliskos back and took a few swings at some troopers before running to get away as well.

[Ratch! Bridge us back now!] I shrieked into the comm. link. One opened up immediately a few meters away.

"Everyone in! Go, go, go!" Team Prime bolted in without any hesitation.

"I'll be back, you sick bastard." I snarled.

Megatron smiled viciously. "I'm counting on it."

No one said anything when we arrived back at base; even the normally chatty Smokescreen was dead silent. That, of course, got Ratchet highly suspicious. His astonishment only grew when he spotted the children inside the pods.

"The children? What happened?"

No response.

"Somebody say something!" He was growing more agitated by the second.

"Optimus….destroyed the Omega Lock." Bulkhead mumbled.

"What?! You did-" The medic was in emotional shock.

"What was necessary." I snapped. "The kids were being held hostage and there wasn't a second option."

"So you _destroyed_ the only hope of reviving our planet? Optimus…._we needed that_."

"You weren't there Doc! And-" Before Smokescreen could say anything more, I put a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

"Shut it. Do you really want a wrench to the face?" I whispered. He gave a muffled "No" and shut his mouth.

"But there HAD to be another way!" Ratchet was saying.

"It wasn't that simple Ratchet." Jack argued. The kids had been removed from their glass prisons and let loose a few moments previously.

"Megatron was using the Omega Lock to attack Earth! Optimus saved our planet!" Miko backed her friend up.

"What about _our_ planet?! Were all our sacrifices for _nothing_?!"

"Right decision or wrong what's done is done. And we have a bigger problem here; the 'Cons just changed the rules when they put Jack, Miko, and Raf into play." Arcee said.

"PRIME!" Fowler shouted over the main console, breaking the pity party and grabbing everyone's attention. "The Pentagon's preparing to go defcon wolf! I need to know what we're dealing with!"

"To what are you referring to, Agent Fowler?" Prime asked.

"Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves." The Agent replied cryptically.

"Well that was ominous." I said. "Let's see what has him so riled up."

Upon reaching the top of the mesa, it was clear what the problem was: A gargantuan black and grey fortress rose up from the desert, less than two miles away from the base. An Apache helicopter soared in and landed next to us.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" I whined. "That is SO not fair!"

Fowler ran forward and gawked at the fortress.

"Megatron has managed to complete the first phase of his cyber forming of Earth; the construction of his fortress." Optimus muttered.

"In Jasper, Nevada? I don't get it. I already had the town evacuated. Why here?" Fowler asked.

The scout buzzed in alarm and pointed to the Nemesis, which was hovering nearby, and facing right at us.

"Because the Decepticons have discovered the location of our base." Prime told him. The turn-wing himself, Starscream, roared down at us, followed by his personal armada.

"Come my armada! Attack, attack, ATTACK!" He screamed. The Agent had already gotten back into his chopper and was readying the gun turret on its underbelly.

"Fowler? What are you doing?!" Bulkhead shouted.

"My job, two-ton." He stated, and then steered the chopper right at the oncoming armada.

"Zodiac! Assist Agent Fowler and keep them at bay for as long as you can manage!" Prime ordered. He turned to his team.

"Yessir!" I launched into the air and followed the Agent.

I'll put it out there now that a human gun is no match for an entire army of Seeker drones. Yeah it was able to take out a few, but when one fell, more took its place. I had to give it to Fowler though, that guy had guts. That and he was pig-headedly stubborn.

I protected the chopper as well as I could, using my blade to deflect shots and slice at any foes that came too near, but I could see that it was pointless. There were just too many. Unless a miracle happened, we were screwed.

Suddenly, a volley of blue energon shots rained down from above and took out the drones that were surrounding us.

"Well I'll be triple dipped." Fowler gaped.

A white spaceship with red and green detailing swooped around and hovered next to the chopper.

"Wheeljack!" I exclaimed.

"Hey there kid. You didn't think I'd let 'Team Prime' have all the fun, now did ya?" He laughed.

"Nice timing. Now let's go!" I cheered.

Seeing as I had no ranged weapons in this form, I was forced to switch to dragon mode, much to Wheeljack's astonishment.

[Prime never mentioned she could do that! All he said was that she was a Knight, like that explained everything!]

[Ya gonna keep yapping at her or start shooting?] Fowler interrupted. Oh how I thank Titan for teaching me how to hack comm. frequencies.

[Try and keep up boys!] I teased.

I rocketed up and then dove down, snapping and spitting fireballs at enemy fliers. Some of them ran scared at the first sight of me, but they never got very far.

[Prime! You're not gonna believe this! The kid is actually managing to keep 'em at bay, thought I don't know for how much longer!]

Starscream finally managed to get a target lock on the Jackammer, firing both missiles at it and hitting the ship's back thrusters and knocking it out of the sky.

[Wheeljack!]

No response. Hopefully that just meant the ship's communicator had been fried, not that its driver had been offlined.

[Zodiac, return to base immediately!] Prime requested.

[But-]

[No buts. Here. _Now_.]

[Fine.]

I banked hard to the left and flew back to the silo to find everyone prepped to leave.

"Zodiac, you will be going with Jack and Arcee. The others have already left, aside from Ratchet."

"But-but what about you?" I protested.

"Go. Do not argue."

I held back tears but managed to say one last thing. "_Na eínai asfalí opadós tou fotós." _ I murmured.

The spacebridge opened and Arcee, Jack, and I vanished into, leaving our friends behind. Hopefully, we would regroup. And take down the citadel for good.

I wanted _revenge_.

We had been bridged to someplace in the Midwestern United States, somewhere in the country where we might not attract as much attention due to the fact that weren't many large cities around. We'd been driving for a while now, and I was bored silly. I hated being stuck in a non-flying vehicle form, but hey, what're you gonna do if there aren't any planes or jets small enough to fit your size?

We finally ran into a large truck stop with multiple warehouses on site. Jack was near frantic with worry about his mom, but calling her was out of the question. Soundwave could track the call right back to us and send out a platoon of drones to take us out.

"What if Jasper wasn't evacuated in time? She could've been hurt or-or taken by the 'Cons." He was saying.

"Jack-" Arcee tried to get a word in, then transformed out of her disguise, seeing as no one was around.

"And even if she did get out, she's gotta be worried out of her mind not knowing where I am!"

"Jack!" She said again. "Calm down. We'll get back to Jasper; find a way to reach your mother, and the rest of the team." She seemed to be struck by an idea and then and turned to me.

"Try and contact Smokescreen. See if he's okay. The 'Cons can't track telepathy."

I shook my head. "Trust me; I've tried that about a dozen times already. His mind's a mess of worry and fear right now; it's too chaotic in there for him to hear me. And I'm too far away to contact the others."

"Well so much for that idea, but keep trying." She sighed. She suddenly was on high alert on hearing an engine in the air.

"Stay here. Could be a 'Con on our tail." The morotcycle sped off to investigate, leaving me with her partner. He pulled out his phone and looked at it with regret. He was a sensible kid; he wouldn't do anything stupid….right?

Wrong.

A lone drone scout flew in, guns armed and ready to fire. It'd probably been nearby but had totally passed us by, so it must've been sheer luck that it had spotted us.

"Scrap." I heard the human curse. The drone opened fire and swooped low, only to be joined by one of its comrades. The human pelted off to try and find cover, the two drones in hot pursuit and firing volleys of shots at him. One got too close and the force of the impact on the concrete sent the teen flying forward a feet few and landing on his chest. I ran forward and held up my wings as a shield against the shots. The shots stung a bit, but the human was safe for now. The two drones were wisely keeping high up in the air, knowing it was certain death if they got within arm's reach of me and kept me pinned in place and unable to take flight.

Arcee zoomed back from her little investigation and opened fire on one of the drones, one shot clipping its wing and sending it crashing to the ground. Its comrade decided it was do or die and swooped low, his thinly armored underbelly exposed.

Perfect.

As soon as it got within range, I raised my blade up and held it there. I didn't even have to move it; the drone's own momentum did the work for me. The drone was sliced right down the middle, cleaving in two and falling to the ground.

"Idiot." I smirked. "Let's keep moving."


	19. Chapter 19: Meet Mr Taciturn

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 19

We were on the open road again and had taken a detour off the main highway to try and avoid civillians. Rows of corn fields and old farm houses dotted the expanse of road on either side of us and provided me with something to look at while we drove alone. Jack and Arcee were both silent, both worried about the fates of their team mates, and in Jack's case, also his mom. The cyclebot deicded to try and break the silence with a question with the hopes of distracting her partner from his brooding.

"Hey, Zee?"

"Hmm?" I answered.

"What was that sentence you said right before we left? It was Greek I know, but I only understood one word: _fotos_. That means light, right?"

If I could smile in my vehicle form, I would've. "You are correct. What I uttered was an ancient Empyrean blessing. It literally translates to "Be safe follower of light". I can only hope that it does indeed work."

Jack sighed but said nothing. The human looked tired, no, exhausted. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep and we'd been going for almost a day now, and the only thing he'd managed to bring with him was a small backpack of supplies and his cell phone.

"Hey, you hungry? There's a town up ahead." The blue motorcycle tried to sound up-beat.

Her rider shook his head. "I'd better not. I'm runnin' low on cash."

"'Least you don't have to buy gasoline." She joked. "I'll pull over anyway, Zee looks ready to kill something just to get out of her disguise, and I could use a stretch too."

She turned onto a small dirt road that up to an old -most likely abandoned- farm house, its windmill crumbling from years of neglect, but somehow still spinning. I followed her behind the building and shifted out of my vehicle form along with her, unfurling my wings and flapping them a few times to get the blood flowing again. Cramping those things into a motorcycle can get them feeling really weird and tingly.

Jack walked over to a rotting picket fence and removed his helmet, staring at the setting sun in the distance.

"Arcee, Team Prime is scattered to the winds. For all we know, the three of us could be the only ones left."

She walked over to him and knelt down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I don't believe that Jack, and I know you don't either. So does Zee, I can tell."

I crossed my arms across my chest and winked at him. "You can't hide things from a telepath you know. It's a fruitless endeavor."

"Okay, maybe not. But the Decepticons outnumber us a hundred to one. Aren't there any other 'Bots out there who could help? What about the other Knights?"

Arcee's expression was pained as she said, "The war for Cybertron took a heavy toll…but there were others that escaped in the Ark."

"Where are they then?" I asked.

She picked up a handful of dirt and let the wind carry the lighter particles away on the breeze. "Scattered to the winds." She said. "So let's focus on getting back to Jasper, and getting Team Prime back together."

A look of determination played across the human's face. "Right. Let's go."

On the open road again, cramped into a vehicle from that didn't accommodate for my wings. Joy. More open fields whizzed by as we hurried along back to Jasper, once again taking a side route to avoid the open highways.

"The last time things looked this bleak, Optimus slipped me that key card, you know, something we could hang our hopes on." Jack sighed.

"I know you're feeling helpless Jack. But this doesn't need to be your burden-" Whatever Arcee was going to say next was drowned out from the roar of a hyper-advanced engine overhead. The ship itself flew ahead a bit and I managed to get a better look at it: A large ship, even by Cybertronian standards, with a deep blue paintjob along with flecks of iridescent turquoise dotted across its frame, and large guns attached to it. Cannons by the look 'em.

"Woah!" Jack shouted.

The ship made a U-turn and flew back towards us, landing with a thud on the pavement. The hatch on its underside lowered down and I could just glimpse a form behind all the steam as the internal cooling systems met the hot air outside.

The femme had screeched to a halt and taken up a defensive crouch in front of her partner, blasters at the ready should this be a 'Con. I followed suite, but the aura inside the ship was a friendly, if not a little stiff, one.

"Stay behind me." Arcee whispered to her partner. She suddenly lowered them as the form inside the steam clarified into the silhouette of a Cybertronian .

"Jack I don't think we're gonna need that key card." She said with a small smile. The new comer stomped forward and finally showed himself. "Meet Ultra Magnus."

The mech in question was large, easily as big as Prime, and had a paintjob that matched his ship- deep navy blue with hints of iridescent turquoise-and bore an uncanny resemblance to the Autobot leader, with only slight differences.

"No one's seen or heard from you since Cybertron went dark. How'd you find your way here?" she asked.

"Soldier, we may not be on Cybertron, but military protocol remains." Magnus answered stiffly.

"My apologies…sir." Arcee corrected herself.

"'Sir'?" Jack said in disbelief.

"Advise the native form to watch its tone as well." Magnus added. Wow, rude much?

"What?! Who is this guy?" the human demanded his partner.

She leaned down and whispered back:

"Ultra Magnus was Optimus's key lieutenant during the war back on Cybertron; very by-the-book, just go with it."

"As for your broader question," the lieutenant started, "my story is that of all Autobots after the Exodus. I wandered the space ways in search of others-reuniting with some-often only to see them fall at the hands of the Decepticons."

"Until you detected the Omega beam and followed it here." I realized.

"If you are referring to the massive energy burst originating from Cybertron, that would be affirmative." He answered me, and then continued. "Upon my arrival here it became clear that this planet had been invaded. My scanners also detected Autobot life signals –yours being in closest proximity to my position."

"W-wait signals, as in plural?" Jack blurted out. Magnus gave him a hard stare. "Sir." The human added.

"Five total."

"Out of seven." The teen hung his head in sorrow.

"Jack, that doesn't necessarily mean what you think. Autobot signals can't be detected when they're shielded." Arcee reassured him.

"Noticed you didn't count me in the total. Thanks for that." I smirked.

"I…uh…well-" Jack stuttered.

"Nah, don't worry 'bout it. Just messing with ya." I laughed it off.

Ultra Magnus turned to me. "And who might you be soldier?"

That did it. I flew right at his face and hissed:

"Okay, lemme clarify one thing for you, Mr. Taciturn. I'm not a soldier, I'm a Knight, which means I outrank you, so take your attitude and shove it."

He didn't seem in any way perturbed by this outburst and subjected me a cold, piercing look. I glared back at him in equal measure. Eventually he must've realized glaring at me was about as pointless as glaring at a brick wall and hoping to intimidate it, and gave in.

"Very well." He stated. He began walking back towards his ship. "We must locate the other signals and rally for an attack against Megatron."

I whooped and ran for the ship, switching into dragon mode, and clambered on top of it. Aside from his brow ridges raising a trifle, he didn't seem very alarmed about this.

"I assume you have a good explanation for this? And why she is currently on top of my ship?"

"We'll explain on the way, but in regards to your second question, sir, she's not going to pass up a free launch pad." Arcee smiled.

'_Oh hardy fraggin' har.'_ I told her. All I got was chuckle from her as she walked inside with her partner in tow. The ship's engines roared to life and it lifted into the air before rocketing off towards the next closest signals. Once it was a good way up in the air, I leapt off and soared alongside it.

For a while there was no indication where the signals were aside from the scanners. Suddenly, a large blue plume of fire erupted in the distance. The ship's pilot homed in on the explosion, and that's when we all got a second shock: Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Miko were tangling with what looked like a giant, metal…dragon? No. A predacon. And they weren't doing so hot.

The beast reared back and tried to spit a cloud of flame at its victims, but I decided otherwise, as did Magnus. Just as it readied itself to fire, I slammed into its neck and sent it staggering, while the ship let loose a barrage of shots to try and get the creature's attention away from its prey. Having succeeding in stunning it and gaining its full attention, the beast screamed in fury and gave chase from the air, spitting another fireball at them, but the ship lowered its hatch and let the three of them on board just as fireball hit the ground beneath them. Satisfied that they were safe, I charged the beast and snapped at its neck, making it scream again. It didn't go after me though; it flew after the ship instead.

'_Guys heads up! That thing's coming in fast and furious!'_ I warned everyone. Apparently Magnus got the message and the ship veered off to the right as another fireball whizzed past, barely missing one of its thrusters in the process. I shot forward and snapped at it again; I needed to get the thing's attention off the 'Bots. The ship flipped over the beast and opened fire, striking it once on the side.

'_You're not helping Mags!'_ I shrieked. The predacon flew forward and vanished into a cloud bank, gone from sight, but not from mind. The ship followed in with me in in the lead.

Just what the beast wanted.

It emerged from the clouds below us and spit another fireball at the ship. This one hit its mark, frying the portside thruster. The ship shuddered and tried to recalibrate to keep in the air, its stabilizing flaps repositioning with a hiss. Even worse, the beast had landed on top of the ship and was crawling around trying to find a weak spot in the armor, and it was too risky for me to land as well for fear of overburdening the ship and causing it to crash land.

I had to give Ultra Magnus credit for what he did next. We were flying over a ravine at the moment and he steered his ship right down into it, ramming it through obstacles to try and shake his unwanted hitchhiker. The ship roared up and then flipped upside down, slamming the predacon into a large protrusion of rock and forcing it let go and fall back down into the ravine.

I switched back out of dragon form and landed on the ship before hacking the comm. frequency in a flash.

[Nice flying there, Taciturn. Didn't think a non-flyer would be able to pull off that kind of maneuvering.] I laughed. [I could try and perform some rudimentary repairs on that thruster if you want.]

[Thank you] He answered coldly. [and that won't be necessary. The next signals are only a few kliks from our current position.]

[Okay then, mind letting me back in then?]

The last two signals were located outside the derelict Harbinger. It was Ratchet, Bumblebee and Raf, all of whom looked weary but unharmed. As soon as the hatch was lowered, Miko bolted forward and hugged the living daylights out of the boy. Jack was more casual and high-fived him, but then hugged him as well. The medic let out a relived sigh at seeing almost every member of his team alive and well, but went wide-eyed at seeing who stepped forward next.

"Doctor." Magnus acknowledged him civilly.

Bulkhead and Arcee had gone over to chat with Bumblebee, complimenting his new paintjob, while Ratchet was discussing something regarding the groundbridge on the Harbinger to Ultra Magnus.

"_That_ might've come in handy when robo-dragon was trying to eat us for breakfast." Miko complained. Jack and Raf both motioned for her to be quiet just a second too late.

"The indigenous population of this planet; do they all have the same disregard for authority?" Magnus asked the medic. He didn't get the chance to answer. I got to it first.

"No, mostly just Miko." I smiled. "And me, maybe, as you do doubt figured out already."

The lieutenant cast a withering look at me in response. Messing with him was gonna be _fun_.

The pleasantries (not really) were cut short when a camo-colored military jet roared in. Fowler was here at last. Magnus unfortunately mistook the jet for an enemy and ran forward with blasters drawn.

Cries of "No!" "Don't shoot!" and "It's Fowler, he's with us!" convinced him to lower said blasters. Jack was surprised and ecstatic to see him mom climb down the access ladder that lead to the cockpit and ran forward with his friends to meet her, followed by Fowler who went over to discuss with Ratchet and the other 'Bots. I was glad to see her too and knelt down with a smile.

"Good to see you're alright, Zodiac." She murmured. She turned to the kids. "Your families are safe; Agent Fowler saw to it that Jasper was evacuated in time."

"Well that's one tragedy averted at least." I sighed. "I'll go see what the others are talking about."

I walked off and rejoined the little huddle of bots and heard Fowler saying:

"-Not while Megatron's holding our planet hostage from his high and mighty perch of Darkmount!"

"I would be inclined to agree with the native life form. We must stop Megatron, with or without Optimus Prime's aid, and do everything in our power to ensure Megatron's downfall. But we will need to be smart about it." Magnus agreed. Wow, him actually agreeing with someone like Fowler? This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

"Smart about it? You're lucky to have me along then." I grinned.

"Whoa, who put shoulder pads in command?" Wheeljack complained.

"_Temporary_ command. "Jack corrected him after having joined the discussion.

"Ultra Magnus is the only logical choice. He was trained by Optimus, served as his commanding officer throughout the war for Cybertron." Ratchet said.

Magnus went on. "Now, unless there is any further objection, everyone, please follow me."

Everyone filed into the ship, minus the humans of course, who would remain at the Harbinger, and were shown a large weapons rack in the rear of the ship.

"Autobots, take your pick." The lieutenant offered.

"Now you're speakin' my language….sir." Wheeljack grinned.

"_Vive la Revolution_!" I cheered. That bit of French puzzled the Autobots, who glanced at me like I was crazy. "Never mind." I skulked.

After picking out their various weapons upgrades, the 'Bots trudged back inside the Harbinger to strategize with their human allies.

"Autobots, we remain vastly outnumbered and despite our various munitions upgrades, currently lack the firepower needed to breach the Decepticon citadel." Magnus was explaining.

I waved to get his attention. "Uh hello? You've got a Knight on your side?"

"Even with your assistance we will remain outgunned."

Fowler interrupted. "Uncle Sam's military has that firepower, but I can't give 'em the go ahead, not while Megatron's got his fusion cannons pointed at Washington."

I cringed. "Forgot about that."

Magnus nodded. "Then we must infiltrate Darkmount and disable the cannons."

"Unfortunately, it would appear that the fortress is heavily shielded against unauthorized groundbridges, even those originating from Decepticon technology." Ratchet said.

"Guess we'll have to sneak past enemy lines-Wrecker style." Wheeljack grinned.

"I couldn't deal with 'Wrecker style' back on Cybertron, and I refuse to deal with it here." Magnus scowled at him. Ouch. "Now we require a means to thin the Decepticon ranks to even the odds if we're to have any hope of accomplishing this mission…or of surviving it."

I gasped and reeled back at a flurry of emotions that clearly weren't mine. This puzzled the taciturn lieutenant.

"What's wrong with her?"

'Bee walked over and buzzed at me sit down lest I fall forward and hurt myself. I complied and sat down, holding my head to try and stem the flow.

"Zodiac…well it's a long story, but she's clearly receiving some kind of emotional backlash from Smokescreen, though I'm not sure if he's aware of it himself." The medic began slowly. "Try and calm him down." He urged.

I winced and tried to send out a soothing pulse, but was overwhelmed again and forced to attach a metaphorical megaphone to my next message.

'_SMOKESCREEN CALM DOWN YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!_'

_An awkward silence, then:_

'_Zee? ZEE? You gotta help-I-I-Optimus, he's…'_ He sounded near crazy with worry.

His panic transferred to me. '_He's what? What's wrong?'_

'_He's…I think he's dying. He got caught in the blast that leveled the base. I'm amazed he's remained conscious for this long, but he's fading fast.'_

That piece of information caused me let out a low wail of grief. Even the normally wooden-faced Ultra Magnus looked concerned, but he didn't pry at me to tell him what was bothering me.

'_Keep him conscious as long as you can. I'm calling the Knights.'_

_Uncertainty. 'I'll try. I mean he asked me to go get the Forge, but then he told me not to use it on him.'_

I got the feeling that there was something he wasn't telling me. But there was no time to interrogate him on that.

I sent out a mental distress beacon to my sister, who would in turn relay that to the other Knights.

I just hoped they would get it in time.


	20. Chapter 20: The Knights and the Spirits

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 19

We were on the open road again and had taken a detour off the main highway to try and avoid civillians. Rows of corn fields and old farm houses dotted the expanse of road on either side of us and provided me with something to look at while we drove alone. Jack and Arcee were both silent, both worried about the fates of their team mates, and in Jack's case, also his mom. The cyclebot deicded to try and break the silence with a question with the hopes of distracting her partner from his brooding.

"Hey, Zee?"

"Hmm?" I answered.

"What was that sentence you said right before we left? It was Greek I know, but I only understood one word: _fotos_. That means light, right?"

If I could smile in my vehicle form, I would've. "You are correct. What I uttered was an ancient Empyrean blessing. It literally translates to "Be safe follower of light". I can only hope that it does indeed work."

Jack sighed but said nothing. The human looked tired, no, exhausted. He hadn't gotten a good night's sleep and we'd been going for almost a day now, and the only thing he'd managed to bring with him was a small backpack of supplies and his cell phone.

"Hey, you hungry? There's a town up ahead." The blue motorcycle tried to sound up-beat.

Her rider shook his head. "I'd better not. I'm runnin' low on cash."

"'Least you don't have to buy gasoline." She joked. "I'll pull over anyway, Zee looks ready to kill something just to get out of her disguise, and I could use a stretch too."

She turned onto a small dirt road that up to an old -most likely abandoned- farm house, its windmill crumbling from years of neglect, but somehow still spinning. I followed her behind the building and shifted out of my vehicle form along with her, unfurling my wings and flapping them a few times to get the blood flowing again. Cramping those things into a motorcycle can get them feeling really weird and tingly.

Jack walked over to a rotting picket fence and removed his helmet, staring at the setting sun in the distance.

"Arcee, Team Prime is scattered to the winds. For all we know, the three of us could be the only ones left."

She walked over to him and knelt down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I don't believe that Jack, and I know you don't either. So does Zee, I can tell."

I crossed my arms across my chest and winked at him. "You can't hide things from a telepath you know. It's a fruitless endeavor."

"Okay, maybe not. But the Decepticons outnumber us a hundred to one. Aren't there any other 'Bots out there who could help? What about the other Knights?"

Arcee's expression was pained as she said, "The war for Cybertron took a heavy toll…but there were others that escaped in the Ark."

"Where are they then?" I asked.

She picked up a handful of dirt and let the wind carry the lighter particles away on the breeze. "Scattered to the winds." She said. "So let's focus on getting back to Jasper, and getting Team Prime back together."

A look of determination played across the human's face. "Right. Let's go."

On the open road again, cramped into a vehicle from that didn't accommodate for my wings. Joy. More open fields whizzed by as we hurried along back to Jasper, once again taking a side route to avoid the open highways.

"The last time things looked this bleak, Optimus slipped me that key card, you know, something we could hang our hopes on." Jack sighed.

"I know you're feeling helpless Jack. But this doesn't need to be your burden-" Whatever Arcee was going to say next was drowned out from the roar of a hyper-advanced engine overhead. The ship itself flew ahead a bit and I managed to get a better look at it: A large ship, even by Cybertronian standards, with a deep blue paintjob along with flecks of iridescent turquoise dotted across its frame, and large guns attached to it. Cannons by the look 'em.

"Woah!" Jack shouted.

The ship made a U-turn and flew back towards us, landing with a thud on the pavement. The hatch on its underside lowered down and I could just glimpse a form behind all the steam as the internal cooling systems met the hot air outside.

The femme had screeched to a halt and taken up a defensive crouch in front of her partner, blasters at the ready should this be a 'Con. I followed suite, but the aura inside the ship was a friendly, if not a little stiff, one.

"Stay behind me." Arcee whispered to her partner. She suddenly lowered them as the form inside the steam clarified into the silhouette of a Cybertronian .

"Jack I don't think we're gonna need that key card." She said with a small smile. The new comer stomped forward and finally showed himself. "Meet Ultra Magnus."

The mech in question was large, easily as big as Prime, and had a paintjob that matched his ship- deep navy blue with hints of iridescent turquoise-and bore an uncanny resemblance to the Autobot leader, with only slight differences.

"No one's seen or heard from you since Cybertron went dark. How'd you find your way here?" she asked.

"Soldier, we may not be on Cybertron, but military protocol remains." Magnus answered stiffly.

"My apologies…sir." Arcee corrected herself.

"'Sir'?" Jack said in disbelief.

"Advise the native form to watch its tone as well." Magnus added. Wow, rude much?

"What?! Who is this guy?" the human demanded his partner.

She leaned down and whispered back:

"Ultra Magnus was Optimus's key lieutenant during the war back on Cybertron; very by-the-book, just go with it."

"As for your broader question," the lieutenant started, "my story is that of all Autobots after the Exodus. I wandered the space ways in search of others-reuniting with some-often only to see them fall at the hands of the Decepticons."

"Until you detected the Omega beam and followed it here." I realized.

"If you are referring to the massive energy burst originating from Cybertron, that would be affirmative." He answered me, and then continued. "Upon my arrival here it became clear that this planet had been invaded. My scanners also detected Autobot life signals –yours being in closest proximity to my position."

"W-wait signals, as in plural?" Jack blurted out. Magnus gave him a hard stare. "Sir." The human added.

"Five total."

"Out of seven." The teen hung his head in sorrow.

"Jack, that doesn't necessarily mean what you think. Autobot signals can't be detected when they're shielded." Arcee reassured him.

"Noticed you didn't count me in the total. Thanks for that." I smirked.

"I…uh…well-" Jack stuttered.

"Nah, don't worry 'bout it. Just messing with ya." I laughed it off.

Ultra Magnus turned to me. "And who might you be soldier?"

That did it. I flew right at his face and hissed:

"Okay, lemme clarify one thing for you, Mr. Taciturn. I'm not a soldier, I'm a Knight, which means I outrank you, so take your attitude and shove it."

He didn't seem in any way perturbed by this outburst and subjected me a cold, piercing look. I glared back at him in equal measure. Eventually he must've realized glaring at me was about as pointless as glaring at a brick wall and hoping to intimidate it, and gave in.

"Very well." He stated. He began walking back towards his ship. "We must locate the other signals and rally for an attack against Megatron."

I whooped and ran for the ship, switching into dragon mode, and clambered on top of it. Aside from his brow ridges raising a trifle, he didn't seem very alarmed about this.

"I assume you have a good explanation for this? And why she is currently on top of my ship?"

"We'll explain on the way, but in regards to your second question, sir, she's not going to pass up a free launch pad." Arcee smiled.

'_Oh hardy fraggin' har.'_ I told her. All I got was chuckle from her as she walked inside with her partner in tow. The ship's engines roared to life and it lifted into the air before rocketing off towards the next closest signals. Once it was a good way up in the air, I leapt off and soared alongside it.

For a while there was no indication where the signals were aside from the scanners. Suddenly, a large blue plume of fire erupted in the distance. The ship's pilot homed in on the explosion, and that's when we all got a second shock: Wheeljack, Bulkhead, and Miko were tangling with what looked like a giant, metal…dragon? No. A predacon. And they weren't doing so hot.

The beast reared back and tried to spit a cloud of flame at its victims, but I decided otherwise, as did Magnus. Just as it readied itself to fire, I slammed into its neck and sent it staggering, while the ship let loose a barrage of shots to try and get the creature's attention away from its prey. Having succeeding in stunning it and gaining its full attention, the beast screamed in fury and gave chase from the air, spitting another fireball at them, but the ship lowered its hatch and let the three of them on board just as fireball hit the ground beneath them. Satisfied that they were safe, I charged the beast and snapped at its neck, making it scream again. It didn't go after me though; it flew after the ship instead.

'_Guys heads up! That thing's coming in fast and furious!'_ I warned everyone. Apparently Magnus got the message and the ship veered off to the right as another fireball whizzed past, barely missing one of its thrusters in the process. I shot forward and snapped at it again; I needed to get the thing's attention off the 'Bots. The ship flipped over the beast and opened fire, striking it once on the side.

'_You're not helping Mags!'_ I shrieked. The predacon flew forward and vanished into a cloud bank, gone from sight, but not from mind. The ship followed in with me in in the lead.

Just what the beast wanted.

It emerged from the clouds below us and spit another fireball at the ship. This one hit its mark, frying the portside thruster. The ship shuddered and tried to recalibrate to keep in the air, its stabilizing flaps repositioning with a hiss. Even worse, the beast had landed on top of the ship and was crawling around trying to find a weak spot in the armor, and it was too risky for me to land as well for fear of overburdening the ship and causing it to crash land.

I had to give Ultra Magnus credit for what he did next. We were flying over a ravine at the moment and he steered his ship right down into it, ramming it through obstacles to try and shake his unwanted hitchhiker. The ship roared up and then flipped upside down, slamming the predacon into a large protrusion of rock and forcing it let go and fall back down into the ravine.

I switched back out of dragon form and landed on the ship before hacking the comm. frequency in a flash.

[Nice flying there, Taciturn. Didn't think a non-flyer would be able to pull off that kind of maneuvering.] I laughed. [I could try and perform some rudimentary repairs on that thruster if you want.]

[Thank you] He answered coldly. [and that won't be necessary. The next signals are only a few kliks from our current position.]

[Okay then, mind letting me back in then?]

The last two signals were located outside the derelict Harbinger. It was Ratchet, Bumblebee and Raf, all of whom looked weary but unharmed. As soon as the hatch was lowered, Miko bolted forward and hugged the living daylights out of the boy. Jack was more casual and high-fived him, but then hugged him as well. The medic let out a relived sigh at seeing almost every member of his team alive and well, but went wide-eyed at seeing who stepped forward next.

"Doctor." Magnus acknowledged him civilly.

Bulkhead and Arcee had gone over to chat with Bumblebee, complimenting his new paintjob, while Ratchet was discussing something regarding the groundbridge on the Harbinger to Ultra Magnus.

"_That_ might've come in handy when robo-dragon was trying to eat us for breakfast." Miko complained. Jack and Raf both motioned for her to be quiet just a second too late.

"The indigenous population of this planet; do they all have the same disregard for authority?" Magnus asked the medic. He didn't get the chance to answer. I got to it first.

"No, mostly just Miko." I smiled. "And me, maybe, as you do doubt figured out already."

The lieutenant cast a withering look at me in response. Messing with him was gonna be _fun_.

The pleasantries (not really) were cut short when a camo-colored military jet roared in. Fowler was here at last. Magnus unfortunately mistook the jet for an enemy and ran forward with blasters drawn.

Cries of "No!" "Don't shoot!" and "It's Fowler, he's with us!" convinced him to lower said blasters. Jack was surprised and ecstatic to see him mom climb down the access ladder that lead to the cockpit and ran forward with his friends to meet her, followed by Fowler who went over to discuss with Ratchet and the other 'Bots. I was glad to see her too and knelt down with a smile.

"Good to see you're alright, Zodiac." She murmured. She turned to the kids. "Your families are safe; Agent Fowler saw to it that Jasper was evacuated in time."

"Well that's one tragedy averted at least." I sighed. "I'll go see what the others are talking about."

I walked off and rejoined the little huddle of bots and heard Fowler saying:

"-Not while Megatron's holding our planet hostage from his high and mighty perch of Darkmount!"

"I would be inclined to agree with the native life form. We must stop Megatron, with or without Optimus Prime's aid, and do everything in our power to ensure Megatron's downfall. But we will need to be smart about it." Magnus agreed. Wow, him actually agreeing with someone like Fowler? This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

"Smart about it? You're lucky to have me along then." I grinned.

"Whoa, who put shoulder pads in command?" Wheeljack complained.

"_Temporary_ command. "Jack corrected him after having joined the discussion.

"Ultra Magnus is the only logical choice. He was trained by Optimus, served as his commanding officer throughout the war for Cybertron." Ratchet said.

Magnus went on. "Now, unless there is any further objection, everyone, please follow me."

Everyone filed into the ship, minus the humans of course, who would remain at the Harbinger, and were shown a large weapons rack in the rear of the ship.

"Autobots, take your pick." The lieutenant offered.

"Now you're speakin' my language….sir." Wheeljack grinned.

"_Vive la Revolution_!" I cheered. That bit of French puzzled the Autobots, who glanced at me like I was crazy. "Never mind." I skulked.

After picking out their various weapons upgrades, the 'Bots trudged back inside the Harbinger to strategize with their human allies.

"Autobots, we remain vastly outnumbered and despite our various munitions upgrades, currently lack the firepower needed to breach the Decepticon citadel." Magnus was explaining.

I waved to get his attention. "Uh hello? You've got a Knight on your side?"

"Even with your assistance we will remain outgunned."

Fowler interrupted. "Uncle Sam's military has that firepower, but I can't give 'em the go ahead, not while Megatron's got his fusion cannons pointed at Washington."

I cringed. "Forgot about that."

Magnus nodded. "Then we must infiltrate Darkmount and disable the cannons."

"Unfortunately, it would appear that the fortress is heavily shielded against unauthorized groundbridges, even those originating from Decepticon technology." Ratchet said.

"Guess we'll have to sneak past enemy lines-Wrecker style." Wheeljack grinned.

"I couldn't deal with 'Wrecker style' back on Cybertron, and I refuse to deal with it here." Magnus scowled at him. Ouch. "Now we require a means to thin the Decepticon ranks to even the odds if we're to have any hope of accomplishing this mission…or of surviving it."

I gasped and reeled back at a flurry of emotions that clearly weren't mine. This puzzled the taciturn lieutenant.

"What's wrong with her?"

'Bee walked over and buzzed at me sit down lest I fall forward and hurt myself. I complied and sat down, holding my head to try and stem the flow.

"Zodiac…well it's a long story, but she's clearly receiving some kind of emotional backlash from Smokescreen, though I'm not sure if he's aware of it himself." The medic began slowly. "Try and calm him down." He urged.

I winced and tried to send out a soothing pulse, but was overwhelmed again and forced to attach a metaphorical megaphone to my next message.

'_SMOKESCREEN CALM DOWN YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!_'

_An awkward silence, then:_

'_Zee? ZEE? You gotta help-I-I-Optimus, he's…'_ He sounded near crazy with worry.

His panic transferred to me. '_He's what? What's wrong?'_

'_He's…I think he's dying. He got caught in the blast that leveled the base. I'm amazed he's remained conscious for this long, but he's fading fast.'_

That piece of information caused me let out a low wail of grief. Even the normally wooden-faced Ultra Magnus looked concerned, but he didn't pry at me to tell him what was bothering me.

'_Keep him conscious as long as you can. I'm calling the Knights.'_

_Uncertainty. 'I'll try. I mean he asked me to go get the Forge, but then he told me not to use it on him.'_

I got the feeling that there was something he wasn't telling me. But there was no time to interrogate him on that.

I sent out a mental distress beacon to my sister, who would in turn relay that to the other Knights.

I just hoped they would get it in time.


	21. Chapter 21: Project Predacon

**Transformers Prime: Sign of the Zodiac**

Chapter 21

I wished I could've fallen asleep as easily as everyone else, but the dull ache from my shoulder wound kept me restless and I wasn't allowed to move around per Ratchet's orders. So I amused myself by watching the Knight's personas interact with those of the Autobots and their human charges. Personas don't need sleep, not like their hosts do, because they gain energy from them. So while their hosts are slumbering, personas can do, well, whatever they want to, as long as it doesn't hurt the host in any way, shape, or form.

Adorably, Surge was curled up on the platform near the couch the three kids were asleep on, and would gently nuzzle them to make sure they were alright. I spotted Arc cantering and prancing around outside along with Catalan-Titan's persona- much to the astonishment of a few military personal who also occupied the base, and who were no doubt wondering how a spectral horse and Wyrm had gotten inside the compound. Fenris and Deep Freeze were still growling at each other, but a little less aggressively; they must've both understood it wasn't in their best interests to piss off Sunbrand twice in a single day. Vinelash and Uriel- Sylph's persona, a high ranking seraph-were talking magical first aid with each other, while Coaranach and Infernus were snickering and flicking their tails toward Magnus; probably planning a prank of some kind. Sunbrand was sitting on his haunches in the hanger entrance with Morrigan, and Frostbite and his persona-the Winter Wyrm- were silent as the dead in a far corner of the hanger, minding their own business as they always did. Lastly, Arcana was slinking around on the floor, familiarizing herself with her surroundings, and casting an occasional glance towards Jack. The other Knights had gone off to inspect their new temporary home. Spitfyre had gone off to talk with the director or whatever who ran the compound, asking if he could have one of the unused buildings to use as a forge. Sylph and Morrigan were still in the hanger however. The Theurge would pop over to me occasionally and try to speed the healing process along with her powerful Life magic, but other than that, the hangar was eerily silent.

I don't know exactly what time it was when Fowler arrived, but it was still dark out when he drove a large, custom built red and blue war machine into the hangar. With that kind of color scheme, it must've meant it was for Optimus, since his old semi alt. mode was no longer compatible with the new upgrades. The scanning only took a few seconds.

"You get all the fancy new toys, don'tcha?" Titan joked after returning from where ever he'd been previously.

"Leave him alone, Sparky." I chided.

"Hey, just sayin'." He looked around, noticing that two of the 'Bots were already absent. "Where'd Magnus and Wheeljack go?"

"They left to see what they could salvage from the wreckage of the old base." Optimus told him.

"Oh. Have they torn each other apart yet?

"That…remains to be seen."

I had to hold back my snickering when he said that.

"Yeah, because those two have a….'history' with each other. And by 'history' I mean grudge." Spitfyre flew back in, having picked up the last parts of the conversation. He was holding something long under his each arm which was covered in a large tarp.

"I'm guessing that you _were_ allowed to use one of the buildings as a forge, if those are what I think they are?" I asked.

"Oh, hell yes. Take a look at these bad boys!" He uncovered the two mystery items. The two items were a gun and a set of smaller swords, the former of Sun Silver, the latter made of Cold Iron. The Sun Silver one was long, like a shotgun or an assault rifle, with an ornate grip covered in protection runes, while the Cold Iron blades had holographic chains swirling around each one, and looked more like large knives than swords by their design.

"Who're they for, Hothead?" Morrigan broke in.

To Optimus's surprise, the Fire mage turned to him first, offering the glowing Sun Silver gun. "This is one is for you. I call it the 'Argent Peace Maker'; purest quality Sun Silver, heavy enchantments on it so it won't break as easily as the Star Saber did that one time." He gingerly handed the gun to him.

"Then…who are those for?" The Prime glanced at the two smaller blades.

"Arcee, of course! Those wrist blades really need an upgrade. Hey! Arcee! I got a present for you!" He sang.

"If this is your idea of a prank then-" The cyclebot started, but stopped on seeing the two blades.

"Tah-dah!" He handed her the swords. "Go on, scan 'em! Made those just for you! Goes for you too, Prime. Scan it!"

"They got a name?" Titan inquired.

"'Cold Iron Vanquishers.'" He said the name with its full flavor. "Cold Iron acts as a bane against the Undead, as does Sun Silver. Doesn't just kill; it sends the reanimated soul or spark back to the Other Side, never able to return to the living world again. Hence the name of the gun being 'Argent Peace Maker.', Argent referencing the weapon's silver color as well as the Seraphims, who act as guides to the dead." He grinned and added:

"And I have weapons for _everyone_; just couldn't carry 'em all at once. Mind helping me out, Titan?"

"'Course. Lead the way." The Storm Knight said.

They returned shortly after they'd left, using their respective dragon forms to carry the weapons to the hangar. The two dropped the weapons onto the floor in a small pile and switched out of their beast forms to hand them out, which coincided perfectly with the return of Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack. Unfortunately, they hadn't found anything of practical value. The 'Cons had taken or destroyed everything. But, as always, the two Knights didn't let the bad new phase them in the slightest and handed them their new weapons; for Wheeljack, two enchanted katanas, just like his old ones, but imbued with the power of Storm, which Spitfyre had named "Voltedges"; for Magnus, a gun capable of firing freezing winds-the "Hail Driver".

As for the others: Bulkhead got a new, improved version of his wrecking ball, "Triglav", the Tidal Wave; Bumblebee received a new set of blasters, "Supernovas", whose shots could light up a dark room; Ratchet declined the weapons since they were of no use to him, seeing as he almost never went out into the field; and as for Smokescreen….

Spitfyre tossed a red gun that looked like a strange pistol to the rookie, who stared at it, not understanding what it was or what it could do.

"What's this?" He asked.

"That, my fine fiery friend, I like to call 'Pepperbox', specially made out of Volcanic Iron. That gun fires superheated shots that can melt through armor plating, so be careful where ya point it, 'kay?" The Flame Knight gave a wicked smile.

"Um, is that even safe? To give to him, I mean?" Wheeljack wondered.

"Hey!" Smokescreen protested.

"If you two are done making snide remarks about safety, I have something I found on a scouting mission early this morning." Horus flew in, holding…something in his hand.

Wait. Was that-was that a _skull_?!

"What is _that_?" Frostbite exclaimed. "No, forget that, where in the name of Ymir did you _find _this?"

"This, Frostbite, is the fossilized skull….of a predacon." Horus spoke slowly. "As to where I procured it-it was buried deep in an abandoned Decepticon energon mine, and it was being excavated by a trio of Insecticons. Clearly, someone in the Decepticon ranks wanted this fossil badly, and knew exactly where to find it."

"All in favor of it being ol' Shockwave?" Spitfyre raised his hand. Everyone raised their hands as well.

"Question is, what does he want it for?" Sylph mused.

"No, the question is: how did a predacon fossil end up on Earth to begin with?" Ratchet corrected her.

"It's a fossil; it was a live predacon; it died here?" Morrigan guessed.

"The first of your two points agree with each other, but the last one doesn't make any sense. Predacons went extinct on _Cybertron_, not Earth. And they've been extinct since-well forever."

"Then explain how we just fought one less than 24 hours ago?" I frowned.

The room went silent at that piece of contradictory evidence. Titan and Catalan eyed each other and then said:

"Shocky must've cloned one. If he's as smart as you guys claim he is, then cloning a predacon shouldn't be too difficult for him to accomplish. If he gets any more of these fossils…" He trailed off.

"We could have beast wars on our hands." Bulkhead realized.

"But how are we supposed to find the fossils before Shockwave?" Sylph asked.

Morrigan grinned and pointed. "Maybe Fowler can help us."

Fowler had walked in from his office as we were discussing. And it looked like he'd found something, if the frown on his face gave any hints.

"Prime, satellite surveillance just picked up two areas of Decepticon activity: one in an oil field near El Paso, the other in the Hiburties Bluffs in Scotland. So don't forget to pack your kilts." He joked.

"Dibs on Scotland!" Sylph and I cried simultaneously.

"Dibs on El Paso!" Titan and Spitfyre chimed in.

Optimus divided the 'Bots into two teams; Ultra Magnus would lead me, Sylph, and the two Wreckers to the Bluffs, while he would take Bumblebee and Smokescreen to the oil fields with Titan and Spitfyre. Arcee, Ratchet, and the remaining Knights would stay behind in case another fossil location popped up before the rest of us were done.

Instead of using a groundbridge, however, my group used Magnus's ship to reach the location. The three 'Bots rode inside while Sylph and I soared alongside it, though keeping a steady altitude proved somewhat of a challenge because of where my shoulder wound was; if I moved my wing too fast, it started aching terribly, so at frequent intervals I was forced to use the drag created by the ship to pull me along.

The Bluffs were a beautiful sight. Deep green hills with patches of color from wildflowers with the sun shining overhead. The ship touched down on top of one of the hills and let the passengers out.

"I'll go on ahead and see if we've got company." Sylph said. She took off in wolf mode and bounded down, stopping and sniffing to see if we weren't the only ones here, and soon vanished from sight. Deep Freeze and Fenris got nervous and followed her, but re-materialized next to their hosts once they got too far away. The 'Bots took the hint and followed the metallic hound down a nearby cliff. A dozen or so Vehicon troopers were standing at the bottom in front of a cave, doing nothing. They didn't even seem that alert; their guns were lowered and they were staring off into the distance, completely oblivious to the three Autobots walking by them.

"Alright, this is creeping me out." Bulkhead admitted. "Who did this?"

I smiled. "Sylph. Theurgists are pacifistic by nature-they abhor violence. So all she did was put a Pacify spell on them. They won't bother us for a while, and they won't remember seeing us once it wears off. But that means we have a time frame before they come back to their senses."

"Scrap."

A metallic banging noise got our attention away from the daydreaming troopers. It was coming from Wheeljack.

"Aw, bolts." He cursed. His chest plates opened and a familiar human popper her head out.

"_Miko_?!"

Sylph walked out of the cave and her jade optics widened on seeing the stowaway. She raised her hand to her audio receptor and turned on the comm. link.

"Base…we have a problem."


End file.
